"Andre Norton - The Magic Books 06 - Red Hart Magic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

needlework. "Aunt Elizabeth"—Nan's feeling of abandonment made her a
little sick. It was not her aunt who lived here; this was not her kind of
place. She hated the apartment so fiercely she longed to run as fast and as
far as she could.



Though where could she run to? There was not any place or
anybody—now. Inside she shivered. Nobody must know how she
felt—especially not him. She would not look in his direction. Aunt
Elizabeth with her talk of brothers! They were not family at all, nor were
they ever going to be! She would write to Grandma Bergman, though
already she was sadly certain, that would do no good at all.

Grandma could not take her, not since she had moved to Sunnyside
'way down in Florida. She had explained it all to Nan, how you could only
have grandchildren for visits there. So when Mother wrote and said—

Nan set her teeth hard together, lifted her chin a fraction—when
Mother said she was going to get married again and was going to be away
six months with Mr. Hawes (that is what Nan would always call him—just
plain old Mr. Hawes; he certainly was not her father!) in Mexico and that
Nan must stay with Aunt Elizabeth—Well, Grandma agreed just like that.
As if Nan were a suitcase or something which could be sent around from
one place to another! Well, they would find out! Somehow, somehow, she
would go—where? There was nowhere for her to go—no old house in
Elmsport any more—nothing.

Maybe she could have stood being here—just maybe—if he had not been
here, too. Just last night he had called her stupid right to her face and said
she ought to shut up when she did not know what she was talking about.
Stupid! He looked stupid—mean, too, with his squinty eyes and his mouth
set to say something to make a person want to hit him back.
 Chris moved one foot an inch or so forward, pressing down a bit of the
carpet grass. This was about the worst yet. Even worse than staying at
Brixton two years ago over the holidays, when he was the only kid left and
the teachers had to be stuck with him. Of course, he ought to be used to it
by now. Only he had thought that maybe this year—when he was old
enough to show some sense—Dad might just consider taking him along.
Then—Chris tried to close his mind. Her—her and this one across the
room—they certainly made a mess of things for him. Aunt Elizabeth all the
time talking about being a family! That was certainly dumb; there was no
family! There was Dad and that woman—gone off together. And there was
Aunt Elizabeth and her here. And none of them were his family. He did
not have any family, and he was not going to be pushed into even saying
he did either.

If he was sure Aunt Elizabeth would not come charging in and want to
know what he was doing, he would go back to his room right now. He had
brought the model kit he had saved up for; he had not even unpacked it