"Connie Willis - The Sidon in the Mirror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

said. тАЬThe tappers take the girls up the back way.тАЭ

Pearl bent toward me and said, тАЬGood night, Ruby,тАЭ and then took JackтАЩs arm as if she knew right
where he was and went through the curtained door to the card room. The others followed, two by two,
until all the girls were taken, and then in a straggling line. Jewell unfastened the heavy drapes so they fell
across the door behind them.

I went upstairs and took off the paper shuffles and the uncomfortable collar and sat on the edge of the
bed Jewell had fixed for me by putting a little table at the end for extra length. I thought about Pearl and
Jack and how I was going to give Jewell the sparker at the beginning of the next shift, and wondered who
I was copying. I looked at myself in the little plastic mirror over the bed, trying to see Jewell or Jack in
my face.

I had left my cigar on the music rack. I didnтАЩt want Jack to find it there and think I had rejected it. I put
my shuffles back on and went downstairs. There was nobody in the music room, and the drapes were
still drawn across the door of the card jroom. I went over to the pianoboard and got the cigar. I had
bitten it almost through, and now I bit the ragged end off. Then I chomped down on the new end and sat
down on the piano stool, spreading out my hands as far as they would go across the keyboard.

тАЬI understand youтАЩre a Mirror,тАЭ a manтАЩs voice said from the recesses of PearlтАЩs chair. тАЬI knew a Mirror
once. Or he knew me. IsnтАЩt that how it is?тАЭ

I almost said, тАЬYouтАЩre not supposed to sit in that chair,тАЭ but I found I could not speak.
The man stood up and came toward me. He was dressed like the other men, with a broad black dog
collar, but his hands and face were almost white, and there was no lighter band across his forehead. тАЬMy
name is Taber,тАЭ he said, in a slow, drawling voice unlike the fast, vowel-shortening accents of the others.
I wondered if he had come from Solfatara. All the rest of them except Pearl shortened their vowels, bit
them off like I had bit the cigar. Pearl alone seemed to have no accent, as if her blindness had protected
her from the speech of Solfatara, too.

тАЬWelcome to St. Pierre,тАЭ he said, and I felt a shock of fear. He had lied to Jewell. I did not know who
St. Pierre was, but I knew as he spoke that St. Pierre was not the patron saint of tappers, and that
TaberтАЩs calling the town that was some unspeakably cruel joke that only he understood.

тАЬI have to go upstairs,тАЭ I said, and my hand shook as I held the cigar. тАЬJewellтАЩs in the card room.тАЭ

тАЬOh,тАЭ he said lazily, taking a cigar from his pocket and unwrapping it. тАЬIs Pearl there, too?тАЭ тАЬPearl?тАЭ I
said, so frightened I could not breathe. He patted his formals pockets and reached inside his shirt. тАЬYes.
You know, the blind girl. The pretty one.тАЭ He pulled a sparker from his inside pocket, cocked it back,
and looked at me. тАЬWhat a pity sheтАЩs blind. I wish I knew what happened. SheтАЩs never told a soul, you
know,тАЭ he said, and clicked the sparker.

It was not a real sparker. I could see, after a frozen moment, that there was no liquid in it at all. He
clicked it twice more, held it to the end of his cigar in dreadful pantomime, and replaced it in his pocket.

тАЬI do wish I could find out,тАЭ he said. тАЬI could put the knowledge to good use.тАЭ

тАЬI canтАЩt help you,тАЭ I said, and moved toward the stairs.

He stepped in front of me. тАЬOh, I think you can. IsnтАЩt that what Mirrors are for?тАЭ he said, and drew on