"Walter Jon Williams - Daddy's World (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Walter John)

She explained that Don Quixote would make a perfect man for Princess Gigunda.
"But he's in love with Dulcinea!"
Becky looked at him patiently. "Has anyone ever _seen_ Dulcinea? All we have to do is convince Don Quixote that Princess Gigunda _is_ Dulcinea."
After the races, they found that Don Quixote had been arrested by the lictors and sent to the Lautumiae, which was the Roman jail. They weren't allowed to see the prisoner, so they went in search of Cicero, who was a lawyer and was able to get Quixote out of the Lautumiae on the promise that he would never visit Rome again.
"I regret to the depths of my soul that my parole does not enable me to destroy those demons," Quixote said as he left Rome's town limits.
"Let's not get into that," Becky said. "What we wanted to tell you was that we've found Dulcinea."
The old man's eyes widened in joy. He clutched at his armor-clad heart. "_Mi amor!_ Where is she? I must run to her at once!"
"Not just yet," Becky said. "You should know that she's been changed. She doesn't look like she used to."
"Has some evil sorcerer done this?" Quixote demanded.
"Yes!" Jamie interrupted. He was annoyed that Becky had taken charge of everything, and he wanted to add his contribution to the scheme. "The sorcerer was just a head!" he shouted. "A floating head, and a pair of hands! And he wore dark glasses and had no body!"
A shiver of fear passed through him as he remembered the eerie floating head, but the memory of his old terror did not stop his words from spilling out.
Becky gave him a strange look. "Yeah," she said. "That's right."
"He crashed the interface!" Jamie shouted, the words coming to him out of memory.
Don Quixote paid no attention to this, but Becky gave him another look.
"You're not as dumb as you look, Digit," she said.
"I do not care about Dulcinea's appearance," Don Quixote declared, "I love only the goodness that dwells in her _corazon._"
"She's Princess Gigunda!" Jamie shouted, jumping up and down in enthusiasm. "She's been Princess Gigunda all along!"
And so, the children following, Don Quixote ran clanking to where Princess Gigunda waited near Jamie's house, fell down to one knee, and began to kiss and weep over the Princess' hand. The Princess seemed a little surprised by this until Becky told her that she was really the long-lost Dulcinea, changed into a giant by an evil magician, although she probably didn't remember it because that was part of the spell, too.
So while the Don and the Princess embraced, kissed, and began to warble a love duet, Becky turned to Jamie.
"What's that stuff about the floating head?" she asked. "Where did you come up with that?"
"I dunno," Jamie said. He didn't want to talk about his memory of his family being turned to stone, the eerie glowing figure floating before them. He didn't want to remember how everyone said it was just a dream.
He didn't want to talk about the suspicions that had never quite gone away.
"That stuff was weird, Digit," Becky said. "It gave me the creeps. Let me know before you start talking about stuff like that again."
"Why do you call me Digit?" Jamie asked. Becky smirked.
"No reason," she said.
"Jamie's home!" Mister Jeepers' voice warbled from the sky. Jamie looked up to see Mister Jeepers doing joyful aerial loops overhead. "Master Jamie's home at last!"
* * * *
"Where shall we go?" Jamie asked.
Their lessons for the day were over, and he and Becky were leaving the little red schoolhouse. Becky, as usual, had done very well on her lessons, better than her older brother, and Jamie felt a growing sense of annoyance. At least he was still better at Latin and computer science.
"I dunno," Becky said. "Where do you want to go?"
"How about Pandaland? We could ride the Whoosh Machine."
Becky wrinkled her face. "I'm tired of that kid stuff," she said.
Jamie looked at her. "But you're a kid."
"I'm not as little as you, Digit," Becky said.
Jamie glared. This was too much. "You're my little sister! I'm bigger than you!"
"No, you're not," Becky said. She stood before him, her arms flung out in exasperation. "Just _notice something_ for once, will you?"
Jamie bit back on his temper and looked, and he saw that Becky was, in fact, bigger than he was. And older-looking. Puzzlement replaced his fading anger.
"How did you get so big?" Jamie asked.
"I grew. And you _didn't_ grow. Not as fast anyway."
"I don't understand."
Becky's lip curled. "Ask Mom or Dad. Just _ask_ them." Her expression turned stony. "Just don't believe everything they tell you."
"What do you mean?"
Becky looked angry for a moment, and then her expression relaxed. "Look," she said, "just go to Pandaland and have fun, okay? You don't need me for that. I want to go and make some calls to my friends."
"_What_ friends?"
Becky looked angry again. "_My_ friends. It doesn't matter who they are!"
"Fine!" Jamie shouted. "I can have fun by myself!"
Becky turned and began to walk home, her pale legs rapidly scissoring against the deep green hillside. Jamie glared after her, then turned and began the walk to Pandaland.
He did all his favorite things, rode the Ferris wheel and the Whoosh Machine, watched Rizzio the Strongman and the clowns. He enjoyed himself, but his enjoyment felt hollow. He found himself _watching_, watching himself at play, watching himself enjoying the rides.
Watching himself not grow as fast as his little sister.
Watching himself wondering whether or not to ask his parents about why that was.