"Gene Wolfe - The Waif" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wolfe Gene)

The saw-whet cried again, a little nearer this time, like on a fence post. The mice would not
come out in this cold, they had already come into Gam's house to keep warm. As he had.

Gam had caught two in her trap, and one had drowned trying to drink out of the scrub
bucket. Cats were no good, Gam said. When an old lady like her had a cat, folks said she
talked to the Flying People. Maybe helped them like Niman Joel.

The saw-whet was perched on the chimney, probably. Its shrill whistle came again, and Bin
sat up, threw off quilt and blanket, and sprang from his bed.

A shadowy figure waiting outside in the snow beyond the window.

Bin pushed his feet into his boots, snatched up his coat and what remained of the bread,
and hurried outside.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked the boy waiting in the snow. The moor was bright, and it
seemed to him that the other boy was dressed in rags and thin rags at that.

"Very cold." When the other boy took the bread his hand shook "Can't I come inside?
Please?"

Bin shook his head.
"I could eat this in front of the fire, and warm myself. Just for moment."

"You'd wake Gain. She'd be mad."

The other boy chewed and swallowed. "I wouldn't, but suppose I did Hasn't she ever been
angry before?"

"Sure. Lots."

"Was it worse than my freezing to death?"

In the cabin, the other boy crouched in the ashes and ate the bread while Bin brought him a
bowl of soup. There was still a little fire in the stove, banked for breakfast, so the soup was
warm. "There isn't an meat," Bin explained, "'cause we don't have any. It's just carrots an
potatoes, mostly."

"It smells wonderful."

While the other boy was eating his soup, Bin said, "You'll have to out when that's finished."

The other boy looked up, smiling. "Then I won't eat so fast. It wonderful to be warm."

"You could build a fire in the woods."

The other boy said nothing, eating soup.

"Does Niman Corin know you sleep in his new barn?"