"Steven Gould - Wildside" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gould Stephen Jay)

It was old furniture, not quite old enough to be antique, but old enough to be "vintage." Some of
the chairs were patched. It was neat and uncluttered, like Uncle Max left it. I tried to keep it that way.
"Yeah. I like it."

"Did I see a second floor?" she asked.

"Yeah. There's three bedrooms up there, but it gets really hot. Uncle Max's room is on this floor,
at the back."

I couldn't stand to wait anymore. The tension was building, had been building, for over a week.
The evening had made it worse. "What are you doing this summer, Clara?" I asked. My voice was
ragged and anxious. All four looked at me, surprised.

Clara tilted her head to one side and looked at me with narrowed eyes. "Uh, I was going to
work part-time at the stables, to pay for the feed and board on Impossible, and I was going to get at
least one other job. We don't all have scholarships." She glanced sideways at Marie as she said this.

Marie shrugged. "Scholarship isn't going to help that much. I've got a job interview with Dillard's
the week after graduation."

"Rick?" Some of the tension was still there, and I took a deep breath. Then, more calmly, I
continued, "What about you? This summer, I mean."

The corners of his mouth tightened. "Dad wants me to spend it in Dallas working for his
company. I don't want to, but if I don't find a job here that pays well enough, I'll have to." More
reluctantly he said, "Child support payments stopped last February, when I turned eighteen. Even with
your coaching in calculus, Charlie, I didn't qualify for any of the scholarships I applied for."

I turned to Joey. Before I asked the question he said, "I'm going to join the army."

"What?" Marie was as surprised as any of us. "What do you mean?"

"You know. Go down to the recruiting office at Northgate, walk in, sign up. That's what. Do you
think I'm going to get to college any other way with my grades? I've got four sisters and a little
brother; Dad was laid off six months ago, so all we've got is the money from Mom's secretarial work.
Lisa is talking about dropping out of A&M so she can get another job. No way I'm going to make it
on my own." He sipped from the last of his water, his eyes on the floor. "To be honest, I'm not sure I
want to go to college. Sure didn't do Dad any good."

Marie shrugged helplessly and put her arm around Joey's waist. He kept his eyes down, but
leaned into her.

The silence was like a still pond and I dropped my pebble with great care. "Payback time," I
said.

Joey looked up. "Huh?"

"You guys owe me for tonight, right? For driving you around."