"Charles de Lint - The Riddle of the Wren" - читать интересную книгу автора (De Lint Charles)

"My, don't you look glum. What some licorice?" Janey dug in her pocket
and gave Minda a piece. Her father owned Darby's Bakery farther down
Elding Street, and she always had a bit of sweet tucked away in one pocket
or another. She was a month older than Minda, twig-thin for all the sweets
and pastries she put away, with skin dark as a tinker's, black hair all a
tumble of ringlets, and eyes darker still.
"What's the matter, Minda?" she asked. "I haven't seen you for a half
week or better. Have you been sick? You don't look at all well."
"I can't sleep," Minda said. Because when she slept, she dreamed, and
when she dreamed…
"Well, you should see Mother Tarns, then. She'll have something hid
away in the back of her shop that can set you right. A pinch of her herbal
tea, or some bitter root of one sort or another."
Minda sighed. "It's not that I can't get to sleep; it's that I don't want
to."
Janey cupped Minda's chin with a small hand and regarded her with
mock seriousness. "You're not in love, are you?" she asked.
That woke the first smile to touch Minda's lips in many days. "Not
likely."
"Well, what is it? I'm all ears."
"I…no. It's nothing that makes sense."
"Now I must know."
"It's not something I want gabbed up and down Elding Street."
"Come on, Minda. Tell."
She leaned closer, elbows on her knees, chin propped on the palms of
her hands. Minda sighed again.
"It's… I've been having these dreams," she began.
"Of Tim Tantupper, I'll wager!"
"No. This is serious, Janey. These are dreams so strange they make my
skin crawl just to think of them. I… they're the same, every night. I've been
having them for two weeks now. I think… I'm afraid I'm going mad."
"Oh, Minda," Janey said. She clasped her friend's hand and squeezed
the fingers tightly. "How horrible. But it's not true. They're just
nightmares… terrible nightmares. They're not real."
Minda bit at her lower lip, determined not to cry, not here in the middle
of Craftsquare with everyone to see. 'They seem so real, Janey."
Her friend nodded. For a moment she shared Minda's chill, felt the
afternoon sunshine go cold. She blinked quickly and stood up, drawing
Minda to her feet. "Let's go see if we can beg an ice from my dad," she said
with determined cheerfulness.
"I can't…"
"It'll cheer you up."
Minda shook her head and tapped her basket with the toe of her shoe.
"I've been two hours getting these as it is."
"I shouldn't wonder if your dad's not to blame for these nightmares
you're having," Janey said. "The way he treats you would shame a tinker. I
don't know how you can stand it."
"I've nowhere else to go. My uncle's asked me to live with him, but
Hadon won't allow it, and if I ever tried to run away he'd be after me so
quick I'd be lucky to get a half mile before he took me by the ear and