"George Alec Effinger - Slow, Slow Burn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Effinger George Alec)

Kit is glad to kill the data. He watches Honey misplace her manic

energy. How quickly she is drained and empty. Kit feels a peculiar

thrill, knowing that none of the 800,000 who have bought the new

moddy could even imagine their dream lover in such a mood, that he
26
 Slow, Slow Burn
by George Alec Effinger



alone is privileged with this intimacy. She lowers herself into a black

leather chair and draws her small feet up on the cushion. She hugs

her knees. Kit knows that she wants him to tell her the sales figures

mean nothing; he does not. He knows she wants him to come over

and rub her neck and shoulders. He will not. He watches her

massage her temples with trembling fingers.

On the first day of sales, Honey P├нlar's latest moddy has sold

825,000 copies. Her previous moddy, on its first day, sold 972,000.

The one before that, 1,200,000. Is this a trend?

Goddamn right, it's a trend, Kit thinks. If it weren't, why have

computers track the numbers? Honey and Kit respond differently,

however. Kit doesn't see any practical point in mourning 100,000

sales one way or the other.

But Honey weeps quietly. In the silence, in the candlelight, in the

cloud of burning incense, there is a peculiarly supplicatory feeling in
27
 Slow, Slow Burn
by George Alec Effinger



the house. Honey herself seems wrapped in a fragile innocence. Kit