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

At supper, watching Sapphire set PearlтАЩs plate for her between taped marks, I wondered whether Carnie
was ever cruel to Pearl as she had been to me, shifting the plate slightly as she set it down or moving her
chair so she could not find it.

Sapphire set the rest of the plates on the table, her eyes dark blue from some old bitterness, and I
thought, Jewell shouldnтАЩt have brought any of them with her from Solfatara except Pearl. Pearl is the only
one who hasnтАЩt been ruined by it. Her blindness has kept her safe, I thought. She has been protected
from all the horrors because she couldnтАЩt see them. Perhaps her blindness protects her from Carnie, too,
I thought. Perhaps that is the secret, that she is safe inside her blindness and no one can hurt her, and
Jewell knows that. I did not think then about the man who had blinded her, and how she had not been
safe from him at all.

Jewell called the meal to order. тАЬI want you to make our pew pianoboard player wilcome,тАЭ she said. She
reached across the table and patted CarnieтАЩs hand. тАЬThank you for doing the introductions, and for
bandaging my foot,тАЭ she said, and I thought, Pearl is safe after all. Jewell has tamed Carnie and all the
rest of them. I did not think about the sidon she had tamed, and how it now lay on the floor in front of the
card-room door.



That first shift Jewell decked me out in formals and a black-red dog collar and had me stand at the door
with her as she greeted the tappers. They were in formals, too, under their soot-black work jackets.
They hung the many-pocketed jackets, heavy with tools, on the rack in the anteroom along with their
lanterns and sat down to take off their high shoes with hands almost as red as mine. They had washed
their hands and faces, but their fingernails were black, with soot, and there was soot in every line of their
palms. Their faces looked hot and raw, and they all had a broad pale band across their foreheads from
the lantern strap. One of them, whom Jewell called Scorch, had singed off his eyebrows and a long strip
of hair on top of his head.

тАЬYouтАЩll meet almost all the tappers this shift. The gaming house will close hiffway through and the rist of
them will come over. Taber and I stagger the shifts so simmthingтАЩs always open.тАЭ

She didnтАЩt introduce me, though -some of the tappers looked at my eight-fingered hands curiously, and
one of the men looked surprised and then angry. He looked as if he was going to say something to me,
and then changed his mind, his face getting redder and darker until the lantern line stood out like a scar.

When they were all inside the music room, Jewell led me to the pianoboard and had me sit down and
spread my hands out over the keyboard, ready to play. Then she said. тАЬThis is my new pianoboard
player, boys. Say hillo to him.тАЭ

тАЬWhatтАЩs his name, Jewell?тАЭ one of the men said. тАЬYou ginna give him a fancy name like the girls?тАЭ

тАЬI nivver thought about it,тАЭ she said. тАЬWhat do you think?тАЭ

The tapper, who had turned so red, said loudly, тАЬI think you shid call him sidon and kick him out to burn
on Paylay. HeтАЩs a Mirror.тАЭ

тАЬI alriddy got a Carnelian and a Garnet. And I had a Sidon once. I giss IтАЩll call him Ruby.тАЭ She looked
calmly over at the man who had spoken. тАЬThat okay with you, Jick?тАЭ