"Maureen McHugh - Virtual Love" - читать интересную книгу автора (McHugh Maureen F)

He knows me as soon as he sees me. He is still tall (of course, just like I
almost always have long hair; it is something he wants so badly he canтАЩt keep from
putting it in). He stands up from his solitaire game, heтАЩs a blue-eyed, redhaired viking
in a jump suit; it says тАЬSamтАЭ on the patch.

тАЬHi, Sam,тАЭ I say. тАЬIтАЩm Stork. I think maybe your Toulouse-Lautrec theory is
right.тАЭ Not that I really do. I donтАЩt think IтАЩm less likely than anyone else to project,
any more objective than anyone else. But maybe people like Sam and me, we spend
more time. We refine our art. тАЬI want to ask you a bunch of stuff. Like how do you
blush?тАЭ

Stork is like that, kind of in your face.

He doesnтАЩt say anything for a long moment. And then he laughs, a deep, big
man belly laugh. I want to know how he does that, too.

тАЬYou are beautiful,тАЭ he says.

****

Maureen F. McHughтАЩs first novel China Mountain Zhang, was a Hugo and
Nebula Award nominee, and won the Tiptree Award, the Lambda Literary Award,
and the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Her second novel, Half the Day is Night,
is due from Tor in 1994. Her short fiction has appeared in AsimovтАЩs Science Fiction
Magazine. тАЬVirtual LoveтАЭ marks her first publication in F&SF.

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