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

"No, little girl, I'm afraid not. I'm going to Junction, otherwise I'd stop off
with you. Why? Why let a little girl come all this way and not meet her, I
just do not know!" The woman turned and shouted at the next car.

"Hank," she cried. "Hank, for goodness' sake! Fetch the little girl her dog,
can't you?"
"He bit me!" shouted the porter.

The woman finally chuckled. "Oh, Lord!" She turned and disap-peared into
the next car.

The train sneezed twice and a white cloud rolled up doughnut-shaped from
the funnel. Great metal arms began to stroke the wheels almost lovingly.
And the wheels began to turn. A creak and a slam and a rolling noise and
the train began to sidle away. It whistled again, and the shriek of the
whistle smothered the cry the little girl made for her dog.

Then out of the mailcar door, the woman appeared, holding out a furious
gray bundle. It wrenched itself from her grasp and rolled out onto the
platform. It somersaulted into the child and then spun and righted itself,
yelping in outrage. It roared hatred at the train and the people on it. The
dog consigned the train to Hell. Johnson, the boy, backed away from him.

Sunset orange blazed on the side of the car. The woman still hung out of
the doorway.

"Emma Gulch is her aunt! Lives east out in Zeandale!" she shouted. "Try to
get word to her. God bless, child!" the woman waved with one hand and
held on to her hat with the other. The air above the train shivered with
heat. There was a wuffling sound of fire, and a clapping and clanking, and
the brakeman did his dance. All of it moved like a show, farther down the
track, fading like the light. The light was low and golden.

This was the time of the afternoon the little girl most hated. This was the
time she felt most alone.

"What's your name?" Johnson asked her.

"Dorothy," said the little girl. She held up her white dress to make it
sparkle.

"What's that stuff on your dress?"

"It's a theater dress," said the little girl. Her eyes stared and her mouth
was puffy. "The theater people in Kansas City give it to me." She had
stayed with them last night, and she liked them. "Are you going to stay
with me?" she asked Johnson.

"For a little while, maybe."