"Geoff Ryman - Was" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ryman Geoff)

water as it hit the metal. It was a sound she had always liked. It was a
sound from home.

"You want to get ready, Dorothy?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Outside, Toto began to bark. He went on barking.

"Toto's always quiet when you let him inside," said Dorothy, unbuttoning
her dress.

"He'll bring in the dust, Dorothy," explained Aunty Em. "Here now." She
pulled off the dress. Dorothy heard boots.

"Henry, please! Can't you see the little lady is engaged in her toilet?" Aunty
Em was still trying to sound nice. The joke was an adult joke, made for
adults, the kind of joke a child wouldn't understand. Dorothy, her head
covered by the white fairy dress, could only hear Henry grunt and stomp
away.

Dorothy was going to test the water with her toe. Aunty Em snatched her
up and lowered her into the bath.

It was hot, far too hot. "Ow!" yelped Dorothy. The heat seared into her.
"Ow, ow, ow," she danced back and forth in the tub and tried to climb out.
Aunty Em held her in.

"It's hot!" wailed Dorothy. Em stuck her hand in.

"It is not too hot, Dorothy."

It was. Very suddenly Dorothy and Em were wrestling. Dorothy jumping,
leaping, trying to keep out of the water, held by Em's hands.

"All right!" said Aunty Em. She pulled Dorothy out. Dorothy stood naked,
rubbing her shins.

"It was so too hot!" Didn't she know that adults and children felt heat
differently? Her mama knew that.

Bath time here was not going to be nice. Aunty Em stopped smil-ing. She
dumped a pail of cold water into the tub. "Now let's try again," said Aunty
Em. She didn't let Dorothy climb in by herself, but yanked her up and
dropped her, as she had dropped the cornbread. The water was now too
cold, as Dorothy had known it would be. She said nothing and sat down.
Aunty Em came at her with the soap.

Kansas soap smelled like the stew and burned. "Ow!" Dorothy yelped.
Aunty Em kept scrubbing grimly. "Dorothy," she said. "You came from a
house where there was sickness. That means we got to get you extra
clean."