"Nina Kiriki Hoffman - A Red Heart of Memories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hoffman Nina Kiriki)

She opened dream-eyes and pecked at his mental landscape. A forest clearing, with a single tree
rising from the center, sunlight stroking one side of its trunk. Wind blew and the tree leaned into it as
though its bark were skin, its core supple. The leaves wavered and flickered, winking diamonds of light.
Not threatening, but not clear, either. “What were you doing in the wall?”
“Standing still.”
“How come?”
“That’s how the spirit moved me.”
“Huh?”
He shrugged. “I just wander around until something tells me to act. I happened to stop here a while
back, and the wall spoke to me.”
Matt felt a stir inside. She traveled far and often and had been talking with human-made things all
over the country for years. She’d never met anyone else who talked with them. “What did it say?”
‘“Come here.’”
She glanced back at the wall under its cloak of ivy.—Did you say “come here” to this guy?—she
asked it.
—Yes,—said the wall.
—Why?—
—I wanted him.—
Nothing ever seemed to want Matt, though lots of things enjoyed meeting her, and most of them
were nice to her.—Why?—
—He’s a certain kind of brick. He’s hot. He makes everything fit better.—
Matt looked at Edmund. His eyebrows rose.
“You’re a brick?” she said.
“A brick,” he repeated, with a question in it.
“Wall says you’re a brick. A hot brick.”
“What?” He glanced at the wall. He reached out and placed his palm flat against it.
Seemed like he hadn’t heard her conversation, then. Matt felt better. She had been talking to
everything for a long time without other human beings hearing her. She didn’t want to be overheard.
Edmund’s arm stained brick red.
—What’s he doing?—Matt asked the wall.
—Connecting,—the wall said.—Are you talking to me?—Its voice had changed slightly.
—Am I?—Matt looked at Edmund. His mouth opened slightly, and his eyebrows stayed up.
—Yes,—said the wall. “Yes,” said Edmund.
Matt swallowed.—This is so strange.—
—Yes.—
Slowly he pulled his hand away from the wall. His skin faded to tan again. He held his hand out to
Matt. She stared at it without touching it.
“What do you want?” he asked her. “What do you need?”
“Me? I don’t need anything,” she said.
“I’m here for you.”
“What?”
He dropped his hand to his thigh. “I follow as the spirit leads me,” he said, “It led me to you. Let me
know when you figure out what you want.”
“I take care of myself,” she said.
“Yes,” he said.
“I don’t need anything else.”
“All right.”
“What do you want?” she asked him again.
 He smiled wide. “Nothing,” he said again. “Guess that makes us a match.”
“I don’t turn into a brick,” said Matt, unnerved. She hadn’t realized until this moment how much she