Cloned Lives Pamela Sargent

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

past him at the trees.
"I'm sorry," he said, "it's just a mood." He wanted to take her hand or touch her hair. Instead, he went
back to leaning against the wall. He looked up at her face. Her eyes were pieces of onyx, sharp and
cold. Her skin was drawn tightly across her cheekbones.
"I'm sorry, it's just a mood," she said. "How many moods do you have? Must be half a million by now.
And they're always ones you have to apologize for?
Jim turned and saw Ilyasah coming toward them. He forced himself to smile.
"You were right about this place," Ilyasah said. "Nice and quiet. Ever since they reclaimed that area up
north, you can't go there without falling over bodies, I heard they might limit the number that go up there
at one time. Something wrong, Moira?"
"No," Moira muttered.
"Give us half an hour," Ilyasah went on, "then we'll get the food out."
Jim took the hint. "Sure," he said. Ilyasah left and disappeared among the trees. Moira’s roommate had
still not shaken off the remnants of her rigid Muslim upbringing and wanted to be certain no one observed
her with Walt. Moira had returned to her dormitory room with Jim one evening a little too soon. They
had calmly excused themselves and gone to one of the lounges instead, but Ilyasah had been
embarrassed for days afterward. "I guess we'd better watch the path," he said to Moira. "I wouldn't want
anyone else to embarrass your roommate." Moira shrugged and continued to sit on the wall.
He tried to fight the tightness in his stomach, the feeling of isolation that was once again wrapping itself
around him.Talk to me, Moira , he thought,don't make me stand here guessing and worrying .
The dark eyes looked at him. "I'm leaving next week," she said quickly. "I'll probably come back in
August, but my mother's fixing up her new studio and she needs some help." Her eyes challenged him to
respond.
"Why?" he cried. "Why didn't you tell me this before," he said more quietly.
"I didn't know before."
"Oh, you knew it before, she's been after you for a month about it and you said she had enough help.
Now all of a sudden you have to go home."
Moira hopped off the wall and paced in front of him. "I suppose," she said, "I have to go through a whole
explanation."
"No," he said.Of course you do.
"All right," she went on, "I decided to go home a while ago, I would have told you before, but…"
"Why not? Why didn't you tell me before?"
Moira smiled suddenly. "You really don't understand, do you? If I had told you before, you would have
gotten upset and tried to talk me out of it, or acted as though I was planning something terribly wrong. So
I tell you now, so you won't have time to talk me out of it. I thought you were feeling better about things
lately, I thought you were over your depression. But of course you're going to act the same way
anyway."
"I want to be with you. Is that so wrong?" Jim swallowed, worried that he had whined the words. "I don't
like to be separated from you, that's all," he said in a lower tone.
"No, you'd rather be underfoot all the time. I can't read in the library without you, I can't visit any of my
friends alone. I can't even meet your brothers. Every time I mention that I might like to talk with them,
you evade the whole thing. Why?"
He was silent. He could feel sweat forming on his face and under his beard.
"I guess," she said, "you're jealous of your own family too."
He shrugged and tried to smile. "I guess it isn't so bad," he said. "You'll be back in August, and we
can…"
"No." She stopped pacing and stood in front of him, arms folded across her chest. "No, Jim. I don't
know yet, I want to think about things. I don't want to make any promises now, I'll just have to see.
Maybe that's hard on you, but…"
She sighed, then walked over to the trees. She stood there, leaning against a trunk, her back to him.
"Moira."
No answer.
"Moira." She was gone again, having said what she had to say. He could stride over to her, grab her by
the shoulders, shake the slender body while shouting at her, and she would only look at him with empty
eyes.
Do I love you, Moira? Do I even know you?He stared at the girl's back, stiff and unyielding under the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Pokrewne