Диана Дуэйн - Wizards Holiday

But let me extend the metaphor more toward adult experience, because one of the places where the rule-hunger does persist is sports. You re a soccer fan, Harry; I see you up at the high school refereeing on weekends. About this weird and complex regulation called the offside rule I can explain that, Nita s dad said. And what s more, you ll enjoy explaining it, Tom said. Possibly as much as you enjoy enforcing it on the would-be violators. Nita s dad opened his mouth and then shut it again, grinning. You might be able to convince me about this eventually, he said. Tom just smiled. Anyway, this isn t anything that I don t deal with more remotely, twenty or thirty times a week. It just happens that we live around the corner, so I have an excuse to exert my influence personally…and to drink your coffee, which is better than Carl s: He thinks any coffee that doesn t eat the pot is a waste. Tom sighed and leaned back in his chair. As far as this particular problem goes, it s no big deal. Since we ve had the energy authorized for an excursus, I need to think about what to do with it. But that s the least of my worries at the moment. He ran one hand through his hair as he spoke. Nita looked at it in slight shock; she saw something she d never noticed before. All of a sudden there was some silver showing there, above the ears, and sprinkled in salt-and-pepper fashion through the rest of Tom s hair. When did that start Is he okay Interesting times Nita s dad said. Tom nodded. Interesting times. The world isn t quite what it used to be, lately… Most of us have noticed, Nita s dad said. Come on, let me give you another cup of that; we ll stick it in the microwave. I can t believe how fast this stuff seems to get cold. More milk Her dad and Tom went back into the kitchen. Nita got up and headed upstairs. Her sister was sitting at her desk, her arms folded, her head down on them. Nita stood there in the doorway, looking at her. Are you okay she said. Oh, yeah, Dairine said, not lifting her head. See how okay I am. Thanks for asking. Nita had been practicing ignoring her sister s sarcasm for years and by now was expert at the art. What was the matter with you Nita said, though not nearly as loudly as she d have liked. There was a long silence before Dairine said anything. I needed to get away, she said at last. Just for a while. I needed…I don t know. Not a vacation. I needed to do something else, somewhere else. Millman said a change would be a good idea if I could swing it. And for you, too. She gave Nita a look that was almost fierce. Millman was the school psychologist who had been counseling them both, on and off, since their mom died. I ll bet he didn t tell you to do anything like this, Nita said, annoyed. You know how it has to look to Dad! He s going to think you don t think he s being a good enough dad or something. But it s not like we were going to be away all the time, Neets! Dairine said. It s easy to come home at nights if you want to. There s a protocol all set up the Powers give you an expanded worldgating allowance and everything: You don t have to worry about blowing huge amounts of energy on transport to come back from your host world if you get homesick, or if you need to deal with something else back here. You can be back anytime you need to be, no problem and the rest of the time, you can concentrate on being where you are. Nita let out a long breath. That, she said, kind of looks like the last thing you were doing, Dair. Dairine rubbed her eyes with her hands. It was their dad s gesture, helpless and pained, and Nita s insides seized up when she saw it. I didn t think it through, Dairine said after a little while. Tom got that right. She was quiet for another long time, almost too long, but there was no break in the tension. After a moment, Nita sat down on Dairine s bed. It creaked when she did so. Dairine threw her a look, though not the one Nita was expecting. You ve been toughing it out all the time, Dairine said, and went back to staring at her desk, all cluttered with diskettes and blank CDs and artwork and paperwork, with the flat-screen monitor of her main computer, and also now with Spot, his legs all retracted, looking as muted and unhappy as Dairine did. You think I don t see Dairine said, reaching out to trace some aimless design on Spot s upper case with one finger. And when Dad and I can t connect, you re the one who winds up talking sense to him, and to me, and getting us all going in the same direction. But who s there to make things easier for you …You re getting worn out with it. You need a change of pace, something besides worrying about whether we re okay. We re tougher than you think we are. But you… Dairine fell silent, possibly unwilling to say what she was thinking. Nita looked at her and felt equally unwilling to force the issue, for she was afraid their thoughts were running in tandem. How many times have I had this idea myself in the past couple of months Nita thought. How many times have I thought, I wish I were out of here. I wish that just for a few days a week, I was somewhere I didn t have to deal with helping to put everything back together in some new shape, one that doesn t have Mom in it … Look, Nita said to Dairine after a moment. You meant well. You just have to take these things past the meaning sometimes! Especially when it s Dad. You know what a disciplinarian he is…or thinks he is. Now that Mom s not here, he thinks he has to be twice as much of one. Have you given any thought to trying to be, you know, good for a while Dairine didn t look up, but she snickered, a supremely cynical sound. It was what Nita had been hoping to hear. Yeah, Nita said. Well, think about that, too. You could throw him seriously off balance if you kept at it long enough. Yeah, Dairine said after a moment or so. That might be worth seeing… Do what you can, Nita said. Give him some relief. What about you Dairine said. What about me what Nita said, and then abruptly heard in her head what her present English teacher would say to her if she uttered such a sentence in class. Mr. Neary was fiercer about correct grammar than some people were about the eternal battle between Good and Evil. You could still go, Dairine said. Nita stared at her sister. And you could still take someone else. Say, Kit… After a moment, Nita shook her head. You re crazy, she said. This thing with Dad is going to take some patching up. There s no way he d go for it right now… But Nita was somehow finding it hard to be as energetic about the refusal as she thought she should have been. Dairine just looked at her, straight-faced, for a moment or two. Finally Nita shook her head once more and got up. The bed creaked again. That thing s never recovered from being down that crevasse on Pluto, Dairine said. Its springs are shot. You owe me a new one. Nita threw a look back at the desk, at Spot. How a featureless silvery-dark metal case could look less depressed than it had five minutes ago, Nita didn t know, but Spot s did. This reassured her, too, for Spot was a good reflection of Dairine s genuine moods Dairine might successfully fake what was going on with her, but Spot had no such talent. It was not down any crevasse, Nita said. I left it in the middle of a plain of perfectly good frozen nitrogen, high and dry. But who knows, I might read up on the crystal-reconstruction spells in the metals section of the manual over the next day or so, and talk the steel back the way it used to be. I m getting good with metal, I m told. This airy and overconfident statement elicited another snicker, even more cynical than the last one. Nita grinned. She had been a talk-to-the-trees type in the beginning of her wizardry, a specialist in work with organic life-forms, but everything changed eventually. You sit here and think about stuff, Nita said. Be real contrite in case Dad comes in. And when we re gone, if Dad hasn t done it already, make a little effort to get on his good side by taking that poor lettuce out of the sink and sticking it in the compost heap.Читать дальше