"Kate Wilhelm - The Girl Who Fell into the Sky" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

and he watched it out of sight. It did not fly away, it merged with
the sky, vanished.
Suddenly he was jolted by the sound of a truck rumbling by, close
enough, it seemed, to hit him. He jerked away from the house at
the same time a clear, young voice said:
тАЬShit!тАЭ
The other voice continued without pause, apparently not bothered
by the noise. тАЬтАж preached to scare us, meant to scare us. And did
scare us near to death. And Aunt Lodie, she scared us to death. Not
my aunt, but everyone called her that. She told us girls stories that
scared us to death. About being turned into a mule and being rode
all night, things like that. Such terrible things. We was scared all
the time. Most of us didnтАЩt pay much mind to the sermons unless he
hollered and then we sat up and listened until one of the boys would
wiggle his fingers at us, or one of the girls would have a coughing
fit and then all of us would have to cough and Brother Dale would
thunder that the devil was there with us and please, God Almighty,
give us strength to put him out of our hearts, and weтАЩd be scared
again.тАЭ
John looked in the window then and at first glance thought the
person he saw was an Indian youth. Short, windblown dark hair,
dark skin. A girl? Who? He moved to the door and looked in. No one
was with her and he realized she was listening to a tape recording,
transcribing the words into a portable computer.
тАЬтАж wouldnтАЩt have missed it for nothing. You see, there wasnтАЩt
nothing else to do. It took all day just to get to church and back
home and make dinner for a crowd, and clean it up again, and by
then it was time to go to bed. But it might of been the only time for
weeks on end that weтАЩd even see another soul.тАЭ
Another truck roared by; the girl scowled and tapped her fingers
on the table top, waiting. John knocked on the door.
What intrigued him the most was that although she obviously
had been startled by him, she just as obviously was not afraid. She
looked up with widening eyes, then squinting, with her head tilted
slightly as if trying to get him in focus. He spoke; she responded,
and he stepped inside.
тАЬJohn MacLarenтАФтАЭ
тАЬOh, the lawyer?тАЭ
 тАЬOne of them. Mrs. Cleveland?тАЭ
тАЬNo. SheтАЩs my sister. IтАЩm waiting for them to show up.тАЭ
тАЬOh.тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩm Lorna Shields.тАЭ
тАЬAh,тАЭ he said, nodding, as if that explained a lot.
She looked around guiltily. Probably he had come to make sure
everything was neat and clean for the new owner, and she had
managed to create a mess everywhere. The table was covered with
her tapes and papers. Her cooler was on the floor, dirty dishes in
the sink. Actually she had decided that Elly and Ross would not
arrive until Saturday evening, and by then she would have
straightened it all up again. She glanced back at John MacLaren