"Walter Jon Williams - Daddy's World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Walter John)

He did all his favorite things, rode the Ferris wheel and the Whoosh Machine, watched Rizzio
the Strongman and the clowns. He enjoyed himself, but his enjoyment felt hollow. He found himself
watching, watching himself at play, watching himself enjoying the rides.
Watching himself not grow as fast as his little sister.
Watching himself wondering whether or not to ask his parents about why that was.
He had the idea that he wouldn't like their answers.

****

He didn't see as much of Becky after that. They would share lessons, and then Becky would
lock herself in her room to talk to her friends on the phone.
Becky didn't have a telephone in her room, though. He looked once when she wasn't there.
After a while, Becky stopped accompanying him for lessons. She'd got ahead of him on
everything except Latin, and it was too hard for Jamie to keep up.
After that, he hardly saw Becky at all. But when he saw her, he saw that she was still
growing fast. Her clothing was different, and her hair. She'd started wearing makeup.
He didn't know whether he liked her anymore or not.

****

It was Jamie's birthday. He was eleven years old, and Momma and Daddy and Becky had all come
for a party. Don Quixote and Princess Gigunda serenaded Jamie from outside the window, accompanied
by La Duchesa on Spanish guitar. There was a big cake with eleven candles. Momma gave Jamie a
chart of the stars. When he touched a star, a voice would appear telling Jamie about the star, and
lines would appear on the chart showing any constellation the star happened to belong to. Daddy
gave Jamie a car, a miniature Mercedes convertible, scaled to Jamie's size, which he could drive
around the country and which he could use in the Circus Maximus when the chariots weren't racing.
His sister gave Jamie a kind of lamp stand that would project lights and moving patterns on the
walls and ceiling when the lights were off. "Listen to music when you use it," she said.
"Thank you, Becky," Jamie said.
"Becca," she said. "My name is Becca now. Try to remember."
"Okay," Jamie said. "Becca."
Becky-- Becca-- looked at Momma. "I'm dying for a cigaret," she said. "Can I go, uh, out for
a minute?"
Momma hesitated, but Daddy looked severe. "Becca," she said, "this is Jamie's birthday. We're
all here to celebrate. So why don't we all eat some cake and have a nice time?"
"It's not even real cake," Becca said. "It doesn't taste like real cake."
"It's a nice cake," Daddy insisted. "Why don't we talk about this later? Let's just have a
special time for Jamie."
Becca stood up from the table. "For the Digit?" she said. "Why are we having a good time for
Jamie? He's not even a real person!" She thumped herself on the chest. "I'm a real person!" she
shouted. "Why don't we ever have special times for me?"
But Daddy was on his feet by that point and shouting, and Momma was trying to get everyone to
be quiet, and Becca was shouting back, and suddenly a determined look entered her face and she


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just disappeared-- suddenly, she wasn't there anymore, there was just only air.