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

one to come down and face the truth of what he's helped to bring about, this
dear-won, bloodyminded peace. Let him twist in the wind.

There is almost no line worth mentioning at the bank. It is a small branch
office with only one live employee to handle all transactions past a certain
level of complexity. All others can be taken care of through the ATMs. There
is
only one ATM here. As I said, this is a small branch.

I prefer small banks. Larger ones sometimes have live employees on duty whose
only job is to make sure that no one uses the ATMs to perform transactions for
a
third party. That would be cheating.

I stand behind a man who stands behind a woman. She looks as if she is at
least
fifty years old, but when it is her turn she does not take one of the sampler
sheets from the dispenser. Instead she opens her purse and takes out a cold
pack
like mine, a little smaller. Her hands are shaking as she extracts the sheet,
inserts it, and types in the password.

The child is no more than nine months old. It can coo and gurgle. It can paw
at
the screen with its plump, brown hands. "Hi, sugar," the woman says, her voice
trembling. "It's Nana, darlin', hi. It's your nana. Your mama couldn't come
here
today; she sick. She'll come see you soon, I promise. I love you, baby. I love
--"

The screen is dark. A line of shining letters politely requests that the woman
go on with her transaction. She stares at the screen, tight-lipped, and goes
on.
Bills drop one after another into the tray. She scoops them out without even
bothering to look down, crams them into her purse, and walks out, seeing
nothing
but the door.

The man ahead of me dashes a sampler sheet over his thumb, inserts it, and
does
his business. He looks young in his twenties. He is handsome. The girls must
have a hard time resisting him, especially if he knows how to turn on the
charm.
He may have the ability to make them think he is failing in love with them,
the
passion of novels, spontaneous, intense, rapture by accident.

Accidents happen. Accidents can change your life, but only if you let them.
While he is waiting for the ATM to process his transaction, he turns his head
so