"Nayler, Ray - The Honor System" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nayler Ray)

Ellie was climbing out of the sleeping bag.

"Never."

"Where you going?"

"To brush my teeth."

It was only a short way from the tent to the bathroom. She walked quickly, feeling the sharp stab of fear -- fear at the quietness of the night campground, at what or who might be inside a dark stand of trees. A rustle in the tall weeds startled her, but she found nothing when she pointed her weak flash at the sound. The bathroom was grimed with dirt, and dimly lit by a naked fluorescent bar above the mirror. She brushed her teeth quickly over the filthy sink, making a face in the mirror at the egg-taste of the water. Her skin was washed-out white under the flickering light-bar, and her teeth looked yellow.

A toilet flushed in one of the stalls. The door opened, and the little girl from the other campsite came out. Her feet were bare and dirty. Her long dishwater hair was tangled.

"Hello," Ellie said.

The girl looked up at her blankly.

"Hello."

"You're up late. Does your Daddy know you're up?"

The girl pulled herself up onto the counter and turned the taps of one of the sinks.

"He isn't my Daddy."

Ellie went cold. In the mirror, she saw the ugly fear in her face.

"He isn't?"

The girl was rubbing her hands in the water. They didn't seem to be getting any cleaner.

"No. He's a bad man, and I hate him."

"You shouldn't . . ." Ellie heard the quiver in her voice and steadied it. "You shouldn't hate people. It isn't nice."

"Well, I do." She twisted the taps off and wiped her hands on her dirty T-shirt. "He's a bad man, and he makes me do nasty things, and . . ."

"Jenny?"

The voice came from outside. It was a male voice, raised in anger. "Who are you talking to? Come out here . . ."

Ellie could not move. She felt, in that moment, all the loneliness and the darkness of that place close in on her. She was Jenny, curled in the tent, and the man's breath was on her, in her mouth, in her nose . . .

"You see? He doesn't want me to talk to you." She was speaking in an exaggerated stage whisper. "Or that nigger-man you're with."

Oh god . . . Jenny couldn't know what that word meant. Despite Ellie's concern, her fear for her, she almost slapped Jenny's face.

Jenny hopped down from the counter and ran out of the bathroom. Ellie heard the man's voice outside, low and scolding. She couldn't make out the words.

That poisonous word -- it had come out of her mouth as easily as any other. As though it were nothing at all.