Odnośniki
- Indeks
- Anderson Poul StraĹź Czasu Tom 1 StraĹźnicy Czasu
- Anderson_Caroline_Wedlug_wskazan_lekarza
- Anderson, Poul El Mundo de Satan
- Anderson & Tucker Two in Time
- 00000227 Andersen BaĹnie Andersena
- Anderson Evangeline Mezczyzna w czarnej skorzanej masce
- Dead Rules Randy Russell
- Giuseppe Parini Alcune poesie di Ripano Eupilino
- Diamentowe imperium Roe Paula PonćÂtna asystentka05
- Jessica Thomas [Alex Peres Mysteries 1] Caught In The Net
- zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- anapro.xlx.pl
and she felt her cheeks burn in shame.
Laura opened her mouth to speak but there didn't seem to be anything to say. In
her hand the vid-phone buzzed angrily, her father calling back to rant some more.
Laura flipped it off and turned to let it slide from her nerveless fingers into the
carry-all. She turned back to say something, although what she had no idea, only
to see that the bathroom door was shut again. This time there was no humming
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/custo...%20Scales%20Evangeline%20Anderson%20NCP.htm (91 of 266) [8/28/2005 6:29:40 PM]
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/customer/My%20Documents/eb...P%20E-Books/Butterfly%20Scales%20Evangeline%20Anderson%20NCP.htm
coming from behind it.
* * * *
When Vince came out he was dressed, at least from the waist down, in a pair of
tight-fitting blue jeans and black running shoes. Forgot my shirt, he said shortly,
going to a dresser across from the room to dig through a drawer that creaked
protestingly when he yanked it out.
Vince.... Laura looked at him helplessly, wanting to say the right thing and not
knowing how. She was horribly embarrassed and the icy anger she felt coming
from his direction like a cold wind blowing over her shivering skin didn't make the
situation any easier. Vince, I....
He held up a hand to stop her. Don't. I spoke to your folks yesterday. You don't
have to explain. He sat down on the bed beside her, a black synthi-cotton t-shirt
dangling limply from his hands. Lights, he said and the dim, pale blue of the
rainy morning was replaced by the soft glow of recessed lighting from the ceiling.
Lemme get a look at your back. How does it feel? His voice was toneless and
low but his heavy emotions made her flinch away helplessly from his hand.
Look, He took a deep breath and released it as a sigh. I'm not gonna hurt you
just because I didn't like what your dad had to say, Okay?
They locked eyes and held for a long moment. He was telling the truth.
Wordlessly, Laura turned. She leaned forward revealing the pale curve of her
back. He leaned close, pushing her hair out of the way over one shoulder. She
could feel his nearness, the heat of his skin and a little puff of warm breath against
her bare back as he examined the healing cuts. He passed a gentle finger lightly
along one curving line, like an artist beginning a sketch on a new canvas.
How does it feel? he asked. His anger had softened, mutated into a kind of tired
sadness. It was a gentler emotion but still hard to bear.
Laura opened her mouth, uncertain of what was going to come out. For a long
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/custo...%20Scales%20Evangeline%20Anderson%20NCP.htm (92 of 266) [8/28/2005 6:29:40 PM]
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/customer/My%20Documents/eb...P%20E-Books/Butterfly%20Scales%20Evangeline%20Anderson%20NCP.htm
time nothing did. I was ten, she said at last. Ten years old when I was
diagnosed with hyper-empathy. That's what they called it, my disability. All I
knew was that it made me sick--literally physically ill to be around too many
people, too many emotions. And when people touched me it got a lot worse.
The doctors thought it was possible that a drug or some combination of drugs that
had been prescribed to my mother while she was pregnant with me was the cause.
But she died when I was seven so there was no way of knowing for sure.
She looked down at her fingers, plucking at the dark blue and green bedspread.
Vince didn't say anything but the silence between them was a waiting one, a
listening one. She could feel his curiosity like ticklish fingers at the base of her
neck.
Soon after I was diagnosed my dad met Gloria, my stepmother. She had a lot of
ideas--she'd been raised by people who believe in racial purity....
Separatists. His voice was flat.
Laura nodded but couldn't bring herself to turn around and look at him. She
convinced my father to take me out of school, got him to move to a gated
Separatist community. That was back when they were just beginning to become
more accepted. When the Radical Right was no longer being viewed as the lunatic
fringe. She swallowed, hard, concentrating on her fingers moving in the
bedspread. She could still feel his breath on her bare back and his interest at the
nape of her neck.
I knew it wasn't right, even back then, I knew. My mother--my real mother--had
never ... she never would have had anything to do with it. But Gloria, she has a
way of saying something over and over in different ways until it seems like the
truth. She got my dad into it but now ... now I think he's worse than she is. She
dropped her head and a small sob escaped her.
Hey, now.... Laura could feel him wanting to touch her, to comfort her but she
wasn't sure she could take it. She struggled to control herself. After a moment she
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/custo...%20Scales%20Evangeline%20Anderson%20NCP.htm (93 of 266) [8/28/2005 6:29:40 PM]
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/customer/My%20Documents/eb...P%20E-Books/Butterfly%20Scales%20Evangeline%20Anderson%20NCP.htm
sat up and turned around to face him, clutching the sheet close to her chest and
swiped angrily at her eyes.
I might never have gotten out of there if it wasn't for Judy Candis. She was one of
my on-line tutors and she was African American.
She was black? His surprise was obvious. I wouldn't have thought your dad....
Oh, he didn't know. Laura explained quickly. I blanked out the screen [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]