"Robert F. Young - Little Red Schoolhouse" - читать интересную книгу автора (Young Robert F)

Ronnie didnтАЩt understand why they had to take the elevator to get to the
valley. But perhaps they were going to the roof of the building and board a
тАЩcopter, so he didnтАЩt say anything till the elevator stopped on the sixth
floor and they stepped out into a long, long corridor lined with hundreds of
horizontal doors so close together that they almost seemed to touch.
Then he said: тАЬBut this isnтАЩt the way to the valley, sir. Where are you
taking me?тАЭ
тАЬBack to school,тАЭ the truant officer said, the warmth gone from his voice.
тАЬCome along, now!тАЭ

RONNIE tried to hold back, but it wasnтАЩt any use. The truant officer was big
and strong and he dragged Ronnie down the long antiseptic corridor to a recess
in which a gaunt woman in a white uniform was sitting behind a metal desk.
тАЬHereтАЩs the Meadows kid,тАЭ he said. тАЬThe old man says to change the plot to
24-C.тАЭ
The gaunt woman got up wearily. Ronnie was crying by then and she selected
an ampoule from a glass cabinet beside the desk, came over and rolled up his
sleeve and, despite his squirming, expertly jabbed the needle into his arm.
тАЬSave your tears till later,тАЭ she said. тАЬYouтАЩll need them.тАЭ She turned to
the truant officer. тАЬCurtinтАЩs guilt complex must be getting the better of him.
This is the third 24-C heтАЩs prescribed this month.тАЭ
тАЬThe old man knows what heтАЩs doing.тАЭ
тАЬHe only thinks he knows what heтАЩs doing. First thing you know, weтАЩll have
a whole world full of Curtins. ItтАЩs about time someone on the Board of
Education took a course in psychology and found out what mother love is all
about!тАЭ
тАЬThe old manтАЩs a graduate psychologist,тАЭ the truant officer said.
тАЬYou mean a graduate psychopath!тАЭ
тАЬYou shouldnтАЩt talk like that.тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩll talk the way I please,тАЭ the gaunt woman said. тАЬYou donтАЩt hear them
crying, but I do. Twenty-four-C belongs back in the twentieth century and
should have been thrown out of the curriculum long ago!тАЭ
She took RonnieтАЩs arm and led him away. The truant officer shrugged and
returned to the elevator. Ronnie heard the metal doors breathe shut. The
corridor was very quiet and he followed the woman as though in a dream. He
could hardly feel his arms and legs, and his brain had grown fuzzy.
The gaunt woman turned off into another corridor and then into another.
Finally they came to an open door. The woman stopped before it.
тАЬRecognize the old homestead?тАЭ she asked bitterly.
But Ronnie hardly heard her. He could barely keep his eyes open. There was
a bed in the shelf-like cubicle beyond the horizontal door, a strange bed with
all sorts of wires and dials and screens and tubes around it. But it was a
bed, and for the moment that was all he cared about, and he climbed upon it
gratefully. He lay his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes.
тАЬThatтАЩs a good boy,тАЭ he heard the woman say just before he dropped off.
тАЬAnd now back to the little red schoolhouse.тАЭ

THE pillow purred and the screens lit up and the tapes went into action.
тАЬRonnie!тАЭ
Ronnie stirred beneath the covers, fighting the dream. It had been a