"page130" - читать интересную книгу автора (divineinvasion)

"Your balance appears in your passbook," the robot teller said in its dispassionate voice.

"Yes" she agreed. Opening the passbook she scrutinized the figures, then took a withdrawal slip and filled it out.

"You are closing your account?" the robot teller said, as she presented it with the passbook and slip.

''That's right."

"Has our service not been-"

"It's none of your damn business why I'm closing my ac- count," she said. Resting her sharp elbows on the counter she rocked back and forth. Emmanuel saw that she wore high heels. Now she had become older. She wore a cotton print top and jeans, and her hair pulled back with a comb. Also, he saw, she wore sunglasses. She smiled at him.

He said to himself, She has already changed.

Presently they stood on the roof parking lot of the savings and loan building; Zina fumbled in her purse for her flycar keys.

"It's a nice day," she said. "Get in: I'll unlock the door for you." She slipped in behind the wheel of the flycar and reached for the far door's handle.

"This is a nice car," he said, and he thought, She reveals her domain by degrees. As she took me to my own garden-world first she now takes me stage by stage through the levels, the as- cending levels, of her own realm. She will strip the accretions away one by one as we penetrate deeper. This, now, is the sur- face only. This, he thought, is enchantment. Beware! "You like my car? It gets me to work-" He said, breaking in harshly, "You lie, Zina!"

"What do you mean?" The flycar rose up into the warm mid- day sky, joining the normal traffic. But her smile gave her away. "It's a beginning," she said. "I don't want to startle you.

"Here," he said, "in this world you are not a child. That was a form you took, a pose.

"This is my real shape. Honest."

"Zina; you have no real shape. I know you. For you any shape is possible. Whichever shape appeals to you at the mo- ment. You go from moment to moment, like a soap bubble."

"Your balance appears in your passbook," the robot teller said in its dispassionate voice.

"Yes" she agreed. Opening the passbook she scrutinized the figures, then took a withdrawal slip and filled it out.

"You are closing your account?" the robot teller said, as she presented it with the passbook and slip.

''That's right."

"Has our service not been-"

"It's none of your damn business why I'm closing my ac- count," she said. Resting her sharp elbows on the counter she rocked back and forth. Emmanuel saw that she wore high heels. Now she had become older. She wore a cotton print top and jeans, and her hair pulled back with a comb. Also, he saw, she wore sunglasses. She smiled at him.

He said to himself, She has already changed.

Presently they stood on the roof parking lot of the savings and loan building; Zina fumbled in her purse for her flycar keys.

"It's a nice day," she said. "Get in: I'll unlock the door for you." She slipped in behind the wheel of the flycar and reached for the far door's handle.

"This is a nice car," he said, and he thought, She reveals her domain by degrees. As she took me to my own garden-world first she now takes me stage by stage through the levels, the as- cending levels, of her own realm. She will strip the accretions away one by one as we penetrate deeper. This, now, is the sur- face only. This, he thought, is enchantment. Beware! "You like my car? It gets me to work-" He said, breaking in harshly, "You lie, Zina!"

"What do you mean?" The flycar rose up into the warm mid- day sky, joining the normal traffic. But her smile gave her away. "It's a beginning," she said. "I don't want to startle you.

"Here," he said, "in this world you are not a child. That was a form you took, a pose.

"This is my real shape. Honest."

"Zina; you have no real shape. I know you. For you any shape is possible. Whichever shape appeals to you at the mo- ment. You go from moment to moment, like a soap bubble."