"Sorensen, Virginia - Plain Girl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sorensen Virginia)

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lot where children were running in every direction. Nobody seemed to notice her at all.

Then the bell rang again. A woman appeared in the doorway at the top of two wide stone steps. She called something and the children began to run toward
her. When they stood in a long crooked line, one behind the other, she stood aside and they marched in.

45 Esther looked down the road where Father had disappeared. But then she heard the teacher calling from the door again. "Hello! Aren't you coming in?"

Esther had to move now, she knew it. She took a deep trembling breath and crossed the bridge. She did not look up at all, but only at the path and at the
steps and then at the teacher's white shoes fastened with a neat row of buttons on either foot.

"Your name is Esther Lapp?" the teacher asked.

Esther nodded.

"We are glad to see you," the teacher said, and took

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Esther's hand. Inside she led the way down an aisle between two long rows of seats. What a noise! Everywhere were laughing and whispering, like a thousand
starlings in a tree.

"You will sit here," the teacher said, and Esther felt the good strong seat under her. She sat looking at the desk. The wooden top was covered with scribbles
she could not read very well and with pictures of things she did not recognize. The teacher went to the front of the room and rapped with a little stick
and the noise gradually died away.

Things began to move by. Hands went up. The teacher talked and called out one name and another. Pencils were passed in long boxes. Paper came in sheets,
some colored, just as Dan had said. There was a small pair of scissors and a large box of crayons. And then there were books, lovely, lovely books with
pictures of more things than Esther had ever seen. Looking at the pictures she did not have to look at the children, and presently she began to breathe
deeply again.

At noon she sat still when the others went outside. Her lunch-basket lay under her desk, but she did not feel at all hungry. The teacher came to her and
said in a kind voice, "Would you rather eat here today? Don't you want to go outside in the sun?"

She shook her head.

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THE GIRL IN PINK

The teacher went back to her own big desk and ate a lunch from a paper bag. She had a long blue container, too, that had milk in it, and a small red cup
for a cap. She did not say anything, but when she saw Esther eating slowly and looking at the cup, she smiled. Presently she went again to ring the bell.

The very first person to come in was a girl dressed all in pink. When she appeared, Esther was looking at the door, but dropped her eyes so quickly she
saw only a kind of pink cloud, really, like the heart of a sunset.

The pink cloud came down the aisle and stopped beside the desk in front of Esther's. Now Esther remembered seeing the pink dress before, over her book.