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

the unlit cigar and blew imaginary smoke into my face.

тАЬI wonтАЩt help you,тАЭ I said, so loudly I fancied Jewell would come and tell Taber to let me alone, as she
had told Carnie. тАЬYou canтАЩt make me help you.тАЭ

тАЬOf course not,тАЭ he said. тАЬThat isnтАЩt how it works. But of course you know that,тАЭ and let me pass.



I sat on my bed the rest of the shift, holding the real sparker between my hands, waiting until I could tell
Jewell what Taber had said to me. But the next shift was sleeping-shift, and the shift after that I played
tapper requests for eight hours straight. Most of that time Taber stood by the pianoboard, flicking the
imaginary ashes onto my hands.

After the shift Jewell came to ask me whether Jack or anyone else had bothered me, and I did not tell her
about Taber after all. During the next sleeping-shift I hid the sparker between the mattress and the springs
of my bed.

On the waking shifts I kept as close as I could to Jewell, trying to make myself useful to her, trying not to
copy the way she walked on her bandaged feet. When I was not playing, I moved among the tappers
with glasses of iced and watered-down liquor on a tray and filled out the account cards for the men who
wanted to take girls upstairs. On the off-shifts I learned to work the boards that sent out accounts to
Solfatara, and to do the laundry, and after a couple of weeks Jewell had me help with the body checks
on the girls. She scanned for perv marks and sot scars as well as the standard GHS every abbey has to
screen for. Pearl did not have a mark on her, and I was relieved. I had had an idea that Taber might be
torturing her somehow.
Jewell left us alone while I helped her get dressed after the scan, and I said, тАЬTaber is a very bad man.
He wants to hurt you.тАЭ

тАЬI know,тАЭ she said. She was standing very still while I clipped the row of pearl buttons on the back of her
dress together.

тАЬWhy?тАЭ

тАЬI donтАЩt know,тАЭ she said. тАЬItтАЩs like the sidon.тАЭ

тАЬYou mean he canтАЩt help himself, that he doesnтАЩt know what heтАЩs doing?тАЭ I said, outraged. тАЬHe knows
exactly what heтАЩs doing.тАЭ

тАЬThe tappers used to poke at the sidon with sticks when it was in the cage,тАЭ she said. тАЬThey couldnтАЩt
reach it to really hurt it, though, and Taber couldnтАЩt stand that. He made the tappers give him the key to
the cage just so he could get to it. Just so he could hurt it. Now why would he want to hurt the sidon?тАЭ

тАЬBecause it was helpless,тАЭ I said, and I wondered if the man whoтАЩd blinded Pearl had been like that.
тАЬBecause it couldnтАЩt protect itself.тАЭ

тАЬJewell and I were in the same happy house on Solfatara,тАЭ she said. тАЬWe had a friend there, a
pianoboard player like you. He was very tall like you, too, and he was the kindest person I ever knew.
Sometimes you remind me of him.тАЭ She walked certainly to the door, as if she were not counting the
memorized steps. тАЬA cage is a safe place as long as nobody has the key. DonтАЩt worry, Ruby. He canтАЩt