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

Mary turned with a quick smile. She liked the package with its little bow. And then Esther watched as she opened it, hardly breathing. What would she say?
But writing class ended before anything could be said. It was time for recess, and the sun had decided to shine, after all.

How could she say, "I can't play with you again." It was not possible. Mary took her hand as the line moved forward. Esther could not have taken away her
hand any more than she could draw a sword from a stone. In two minutes they were on the step, bouncing the ball, gathering up the jacks, bouncing and

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gathering. "Good! Good!" Mary said whenever Esther did not miss. When the ball dropped or rolled away or when one of the jacks escaped, Mary never squealed
with pleasure the way most of the girls always did. Instead, she would say, "Too bad! They were scattered too far that time." Or even, "The ball went crooked;
it bounced on that crack in the step."

All afternoon Esther felt happy and lighthearted and gay. She ate her lunch in a huge circle of girls, under a tree. Nobody laughed in an unkind way. She
did not look down all the time, but up and around to see what everybody was doing.

As the children went out to the orange bus again, Esther saw Father coming far "down the road. Mary stopped beside her, by the step. "See you tomorrow!"
she said.

Would Father notice? No, Esther thought, relieved, he was still too far away.

"Good-by," she said quickly, and sat down on the step.

But Mary did not go just then. The children were filing onto the bus. She had plenty of time. "Once I was in a play," Mary said, and sat down on the step
too. "I took the part of a Pilgrim-it was a Thanksgiving play-and I had a dress just like yours."

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"A dress like mine?" It seemed strange to think of Mary in such a dress.

"I love wearing long dresses," Mary said. "And those darling little high shoes-with laces. And bonnets that tie under the chin."

Father was coming very close now.

"You'll miss getting on the bus," Esther said.

Mary stood up. "If you'd like," she said quickly, "some day at recess-when I wear my pink-we can go out to the girls' place and change. Just for the rest
of the day."

She didn't wait for an answer, but had to run. Somebody was calling her. It was lucky she hadn't waited, either, because Esther was completely without words
to say. Change? She looked down at her dress and the tips of her black shoes. She hardly saw or heard the bus go roaring away. When she looked up again,
Father was driving out of the cloud of dust it left behind it, looking very angry. She saw him glance back at the roaring thing that made such an ugliness
out of a good road.

At first Esther did not speak, beyond her greeting. She was thinking about what Mary had said. If only she could tell Father and he would understand!

"And how is it going at school?" he asked kindly, at last.