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

She was proud that she could keep her motions inside herself entirely, like a frog. She had watched one closely down by the watering pond, and saw his stretched
skin move in and out with his heart's beating. She liked hearing her own noises and feeling her own moving. Breathing in and out. Heart swinging to and
fro. Or sometimes her stomach growling like an ogre under a bridge. It could happen, when there had been too much cabbage for supper on Saturday, that
the ogre was too loud entirely in the middle of a meeting. Then people smiled and looked at their laps. But sometimes they had ogres too, which was why
they smiled and understood.

After singing, her father, who was one of the two Denier Zum Buch, a preacher, made the beginning. This speaking took half an hour, ending with a prayer
and a reading from the Bible. Then the tfhief sermon, which must be nearly two hours long to be considered of any use to anybody. During this time the
pies would be passed to the children. Then more singing and the men rose and went out. Then the young women went out, then the older ones, then all the
rest. The benches were moved again and tables set up for dinner, one table for men and one for women. After that the men would talk about crops and news
of Plain People who

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lived in other places, while the women washed dishes.

It was all pleasant, even when the speaking was long, for one could think one's own thoughts without interruption. Today Esther thought, "Tomorrow it is
Monday again. Mary and I will sit practicing on the steps. Imagine, to have a whole set of jackstones, to carry them home in a little bag at night! Bounce
the ball to a count of three, one toss it up, two bounce it while you gather up the jackstones quick, quick, three catch it in your hand again. A little
toss or you lose track of the ball while you find the jackstone. Then you've missed."

She noticed Mother's eyes on her. Her hands had been making little motions in her lap. She wound her fingers tight together and sat still, pretending she
wasn't there for a while. But soon the bouncing began again in her mind. One-two-three!

I have my savings in the little box Dan carved for me, she thought. If only I could get into that store for a minute by myself! But she knew this was impossible.
Perhaps Mary would get them for her . . . "Mary, if you go where the jacks are, I would like two green, two copper, two red, two silver, and a little ball."

"Why, of course!" Mary said in Esther's mind, looking very pink.

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It would be hard to carry jackstones and a ball around without them being seen. Mary's letter she had slipped inside her stocking, over her knee; even a
thing so small kept creeping down until it made a queer square lump over the top of her shoe. Maybe jackstones and a ball could be tied into a knot at
the edge of her petticoat. But tight, so they'd never rattle . . . She would feel them bounce as she walked.

The preacher had finished speaking and turned to his Bible. "I will read from James," he said, and he began. It was the same as the reading Father gave
the night before school began! About the horses and the ships.

Esther felt her heart beating too loud altogether. When she looked down she could see it pushing at her dress just the way the frog's heart pushed at his
skin. It was for her the preacher was reading. What had made her think she could hide her thoughts here at the Meeting itself, where the People read and
sang and prayed? She had sat all that time without even listening to what was said, but now the words, read slowly and strongly, came to her one by one
like the striking of a clock. Jackstones were very small, small enough to hide in a knot of her petticoat. But hiding them away-that was as huge as any
lie.

The preacher read more than Father read that

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morning. After the words, How great a matter a little fire kindleth! he read about a fountain. Doth a fountain send forth at the same time sweet water and