"Esther M. Friesner - Birthday" - читать интересную книгу автора (Friesner Esther M)

ESTHER M. FRIESNER

A BIRTHDAY

I wake up knowing that this is a special day. Today is Tessa's birthday. She
will be six. That means she will start school and I won't see her during the
day
at all.

My friends will have a party for Tessa and for me. The invitation sits on my
bedside table, propped up against the telephone so I can't possibly forget it.
I
wish I could. There are pink pandas tumbling around the borders of the card
and
inside my friend Paula has written in the details of time and place in her
beautiful handwriting. I get up, get dressed, get ready for the day ahead.
Before I leave the apartment I make sure that I haven't locked Squeaker in the
closet again. Squeaker is my cat. You'd think it would be hard for a cat to
hide
in a studio apartment, but Squeaker manages. Tessa loves cats and pandas, just
like me. She told me so.

I am almost out the door when I remember the invitation. Tessa hasn't seen it
yet. Today will be my last chance to show it to her. I keep forgetting to take
it with me, not because I want to deprive my daughter of anything but because
of
what this birthday means to us both. I don't like to think about it. I tuck
the
invitation into my purse and go to work.

I arrive a little before nine. Mom always said I never plan ahead, but I do
now.
There are flowers on my desk at work, six pink fairy roses in a cut glass bud
vase with a spill of shiny white ribbon tied around its neck. There is a
freedom
card propped open on the keyboard in front of my terminal, signed by most of
the
women in the office. I hang up my jacket and check my IN box for work, but
there
is nothing there, no excuse to turn on my terminal. Still, a good worker finds
work to do even when there's none, and I do so want to touch the keys.

I sit down and reach for a sampler sheet to rub over my thumb and slip into
the
terminal. Damn, the pad's empty! I know I had some left yesterday, what
happened? I can't turn on my terminal without giving it a sample of my
cell-scrapings so the system knows it's me. Who's been getting at my things!
I'll kill her!

No. I mustn't lose my temper like this. I have to set a good example for my