"Nina Kiriki Hoffman - A Fistful of Sky" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hoffman Nina Kiriki)

A FISTFUL OF SKY

Nina Kiriki Hoffman


ACE BOOKS, NEW YORK
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either
are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and
any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.



Copyright © 2002 by Nina Kiriki Hoffman.
ISBN 0-441-00975-1 (alk. paper) I. Title




They open their wings, flash patterns and color, fly from flower to
flower. I, with the dark brittles and many feet of the former form, inch
along the ground.
Sometimes all I want is two armfuls of air, a fistful of sky.


Foreward
My mother suggested I mention that the LaZelle family is nothing like
our family. Well, okay. We did line up like that at the buffet to get our
dinner. And yeah, we lived in that house.
But that's all.
No, really.
Honest.

To Ginjer.
 To my family. You know who you're not.
To Kris, my guardian and goddess.
Thanks to Swedish fiddle group Vasen, who, unknowing, provided the
soundtrack.




Chapter One
IN my family, we used the word we all the time. Most of the time we
meant the five of us, the children. We hated this TV show, loved that one.
We adored cutthroat card games and fast chess, but pretended to hate
team sports. We were going to the beach.
Which was not to say we didn't form in-groups and out-groups among
ourselves. But the power of we was stronger than anything we did to each
other, especially when we were united against a common enemy. Often