Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse by Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, Cory Doctorow Page A
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sunlight that ruins the picture on the TV and there is a sound of bells and goats and a laugh so pure we all come running to watch the girls in their bright coloured scarves, sitting in the goat cart which stops in a stutter of goat-hoofed steps and clatter of wooden wheels when we surround it to observe those dark eyes and pretty faces.
The younger girl, if size is any indication, smiling, and the other, younger than us, but at least eight or nine, with huge tears rolling down her brown cheeks. We stand there for a while, staring, and then Bobby says, "What's a matter with her?"
The younger girl looks at her sister who seems to be trying to smile in spite of the tears. "She just cries all the time."
Bobby nods and squints at the girl who continues to cry though she manages to ask, "Where have you kids come from?"
He looks around the group with an - are you kidding - kind of look but anyone can tell he likes the weeping girl, whose dark eyes and lashes glisten with tears that glitter in the sun. "It's summer vacation."
Trina, who has been furtively sucking her thumb, says, "Can I have a ride?" The girls say sure. She pushes her way through the little crowd and climbs into the cart. The younger girl smiles at her. The other seems to try but cries especially loud. Trina looks like she might start crying too until the younger one says, "Don't worry. It's just how she is." The crying girl shakes the reigns and the little bells ring and the goats and cart go clattering down the hill. We listen to Trina's shrill scream but we know she's all right. When they come back we take turns until our parents call us home with whistles and shouts and screen doors slam. We go home for dinner, and the girls head home themselves, the one still crying, the other singing to the accompaniment of bells.
"I see you were playing with the refugees," my mother says. "You be careful around those girls. I don't want you going to their house."
"I didn't go to their house. We just played with the goats and the wagon."
"Well all right then, but stay away from there. What are they like?"
"One laughs a lot. The other cries all the time."
"Don't eat anything they offer you."
"Why not?" "Just don't."
"Can't you just explain to me why not?"
"I don't have to explain to you, young lady, I'm your mother."
We didn't see the girls the next day or the day after that. On the third day Bobby, who had begun to carry a comb in his back pocket and part his hair on the side, said, "Well hell, let's just go there." He started up the hill but none of us followed.
When he came back that evening we rushed him for information about his visit, shouting questions at him like reporters. "Did you eat anything?" I asked. "My mother says not to eat anything there."
He turned and fixed me with such a look that for a moment I forgot he was my age, just a kid like me, in spite of the new way he was combing his hair and the steady gaze of his blue eyes. "Your mother is prejudiced," he said. He turned his back to me and reached into his pocket, pulling out a fist that he opened to reveal a handful of small, brightly wrapped candies. Trina reached her pudgy fingers into Bobby's palm and plucked out one bright orange one. This was followed by a flurry of hands until there was only Bobby's empty palm.
Parents started calling kids home. My mother stood in the doorway but she was too far away to see what we were doing. Candy wrappers floated down the sidewalk in swirls of blue, green, red, yellow, and orange.
My mother and I usually ate separately. When I was at my dad's we ate together in front of the TV, which she said was barbaric.
"Was he drinking?" she'd ask. Mother was convinced my father was an alcoholic and thought I did not remember those years when he had to leave work early because I'd called and told him how she was asleep on the couch, still in her pyjamas, the coffee table littered with cans and bottles, which he threw in the trash with a grim expression and few
The younger girl, if size is any indication, smiling, and the other, younger than us, but at least eight or nine, with huge tears rolling down her brown cheeks. We stand there for a while, staring, and then Bobby says, "What's a matter with her?"
The younger girl looks at her sister who seems to be trying to smile in spite of the tears. "She just cries all the time."
Bobby nods and squints at the girl who continues to cry though she manages to ask, "Where have you kids come from?"
He looks around the group with an - are you kidding - kind of look but anyone can tell he likes the weeping girl, whose dark eyes and lashes glisten with tears that glitter in the sun. "It's summer vacation."
Trina, who has been furtively sucking her thumb, says, "Can I have a ride?" The girls say sure. She pushes her way through the little crowd and climbs into the cart. The younger girl smiles at her. The other seems to try but cries especially loud. Trina looks like she might start crying too until the younger one says, "Don't worry. It's just how she is." The crying girl shakes the reigns and the little bells ring and the goats and cart go clattering down the hill. We listen to Trina's shrill scream but we know she's all right. When they come back we take turns until our parents call us home with whistles and shouts and screen doors slam. We go home for dinner, and the girls head home themselves, the one still crying, the other singing to the accompaniment of bells.
"I see you were playing with the refugees," my mother says. "You be careful around those girls. I don't want you going to their house."
"I didn't go to their house. We just played with the goats and the wagon."
"Well all right then, but stay away from there. What are they like?"
"One laughs a lot. The other cries all the time."
"Don't eat anything they offer you."
"Why not?" "Just don't."
"Can't you just explain to me why not?"
"I don't have to explain to you, young lady, I'm your mother."
We didn't see the girls the next day or the day after that. On the third day Bobby, who had begun to carry a comb in his back pocket and part his hair on the side, said, "Well hell, let's just go there." He started up the hill but none of us followed.
When he came back that evening we rushed him for information about his visit, shouting questions at him like reporters. "Did you eat anything?" I asked. "My mother says not to eat anything there."
He turned and fixed me with such a look that for a moment I forgot he was my age, just a kid like me, in spite of the new way he was combing his hair and the steady gaze of his blue eyes. "Your mother is prejudiced," he said. He turned his back to me and reached into his pocket, pulling out a fist that he opened to reveal a handful of small, brightly wrapped candies. Trina reached her pudgy fingers into Bobby's palm and plucked out one bright orange one. This was followed by a flurry of hands until there was only Bobby's empty palm.
Parents started calling kids home. My mother stood in the doorway but she was too far away to see what we were doing. Candy wrappers floated down the sidewalk in swirls of blue, green, red, yellow, and orange.
My mother and I usually ate separately. When I was at my dad's we ate together in front of the TV, which she said was barbaric.
"Was he drinking?" she'd ask. Mother was convinced my father was an alcoholic and thought I did not remember those years when he had to leave work early because I'd called and told him how she was asleep on the couch, still in her pyjamas, the coffee table littered with cans and bottles, which he threw in the trash with a grim expression and few
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