Read Online Come a Stranger by Cynthia Voigt - Free Book Online

pattering noises of people going to bed, or the muted sounds of people already sleeping. The wind blew around the house, and the sound of rain on the tin roof got sharper, so that she thought the rain had turned to sleet. Sleet would blow down sharp through the dark air.
    In her mind, she saw a high hill, with stone buildings on it among tall, leafy trees, and the great golden lion pacing there. He would know her, who she really was; with him, she would be who she really was. In her mind, she heard the overture to Swan Lake , all the orchestral instruments playing together, in harmony. She could almost smell the studio, a mixture of wax and sweat and the perfume Miss Maddinton wore.
    Mina opened her eyes. The hands lay flat on the bright fabric with which the album was covered. She looked at them, at the square fingernails and the black skin. She turned them over to see the pinky skin of her palms. She felt as if these hands didn’t belong to her and she didn’t want them to. But could you feel that way about your own hands?

CHAPTER 6
    M ina tackled Kat on the subject the next time they were alone together. That occurred when they walked to Miss LaValle’s for dance class. They had class twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from five to six. They always walked together, because their parents said they had to. It wasn’t dangerous, not Crisfield, but it wasn’t smart for girls to go walking around alone in the dark of evening. They both carried their slippers in plastic sacks, against the damp; they both had already changed into leotards, because the one changing room in the garage, with a plastic curtain hanging down over it, wasn’t a very nice place to change clothes in.
    â€œWhat do you mean, telling your mother I’m a snob?” Mina demanded.
    For a long time, Kat didn’t say anything. Mina didn’t look at her. She watched the sidewalk pass under her feet instead. They didn’t walk close anymore, they were too old to walk around hand in hand the way they used to.
    Finally Kat said, “That’s the way you act.”
    Mina didn’t know, really, why she’d asked. She didn’t care, really, what Kat thought. She just wasn’t going to let Kat get away with saying things like that, without Mina letting her know that she knew about it.
    â€œIt is ,” Kat said. “All you’ll talk about is that boring music, allyou do is—and boasting about camp, or going off to babysit somewhere—”
    â€œYou know I need the money, for tights, and slippers. It isn’t as if my parents can afford those things, the way yours—”
    â€œThat too,” Kat interrupted. She stopped and turned to face Mina. Her face was twisted up with anger and didn’t look at all pretty, Mina noticed. “I don’t know you anymore. You’re always criticizing me these days.”
    â€œLike when?”
    â€œLike right now, as if there was something wrong with my father earning good money. Oh, you don’t say anything, you don’t do it with words, you do it with your eyes, as if there’s something wrong with the way I dress and talk and act, as if—And all you do is write letters to those camp people. I bet they don’t even write you back. Answer me that.”
    Mina didn’t answer.
    â€œAnd trying to make me different too, make me read books and listen to your music. And they’re boring and dumb—the Narnia books. It’s just pretend, fairy-tale stuff, with magic, and if I don’t like them, you look at me as if I’m stupid. I’m not stupid. I don’t know you anymore and it’s not my doing.”
    Kat was breathing heavily. The white breaths floated away in the darkening air. The trees around them were bare branches, except for a big magnolia behind a fence. Mina didn’t know why Kat was so worked up. Looking at the girl, Mina thought probably Kat was jealous. It was as if jealousy had