"Holly Lisle - Minerva Wakes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lisle Holly)

and not before.

Minerva raised her voice a notch. "Mrs. Mindley, I need

to get past you."

Her voice sounded contemptible and pleading in her own
ears. She could imagine how it sounded to Mrs. MindleyтАФ
and sure enough, the woman continued to ignore her.

Minerva watched her knuckles whiten on the cart handle.
"My baby-sitter needs to get home, and she can't leave until

I get there."

The other woman glared up at her and, with a vicious
snort, moved her cart just enough that Minerva could
squeeze by if she dragged her left shoulder along the shelves
on the opposite side. Naturally, doing that meant all the
boxes of macaroni and spaghetti stacked on chose shelves
toppled to the floor. They rattled loudly behind her, and
Minerva cringedтАФbut the baby-sitter really was in a hurry,
and the weather was building toward a North Carolina ic-e
storm that was going to lock everyone in for a week or bet-
ter. She was miserably short of time. So, feeling guilty, she
left the boxes on the floor, and, as she'd expected, she heard
the old bat snort again.

"The nerve of some people"

Minerva's imagination created a fantasy shopping cart for
her that featured twin-mounted submachine guns on the
front end and a flamethrower at ankle height, and pleased
herself by mentally frying Mrs. Mindley to a cinder after
gunning her down. That would teach the old harridan to
block the aisle. Or to drop a stack of reports on Minerva's

MINERVA WAKES 3

desk and demand that she handle them because they dealt
with data problems in the Administrative, not Data Process-
ing, Department.

Feeling better, Minerva returned to shopping. "Six cans
of Chicken Noodle, some Chicken and Stars for the kids,
and some asparagus soup for me ..." she muttered. Then
she checked the price on the asparagus soup and put it back.
It was a luxury that would have to wait until another time.
She'd have Chicken and Stars with the kids.