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

am almost tempted to ask if he is sure he saw her at the Salon. I could lie and say I
have never seen anyone like that here.

He bites his lips. тАЬThere is a quality about her, that you have . . .тАЭ

Like a rabbit in headlights I sit still and listen.

тАЬThese people are all alike, but there is something about her. She, she is . . .
beautiful. Like you.тАЭ

тАЬThank you,тАЭ I say. My foolishness, I am glad I canтАЩt blush. тАЬDo you know
the people here?тАЭ I ask, and I start pointing them out, telling him about them. Yellow
Eyes and Greg, Lizabeth R. IтАЩm just distracting him. And he smiles and nods and
makes the appropriate noises but when I point to someone I can feel his eyes on
me.

After a while I say, тАЬIтАЩve got to meet some friends on another board, but it
was very nice talking with you. Maybe weтАЩll meet again.тАЭ

тАЬWait a minute,тАЭ he says,тАЭ how can I get in touch with you?тАЭ

тАЬItтАЩs a small world,тАЭ I say, тАЬweтАЩll run into each other again.тАЭ

Alicia saunters out, but I know IтАЩm fleeing.

Back in the green room I pick up the ocher hair tie that puts on Kristiana,
grave Kristiana, how is she like Alicia?
 Kristiana who rarely smiles, who moves slowly тАФ not because she is old but
because she is grave and deliberate. Alicia isnтАЩt like her at all.

Maybe it is just a coincidence. He is new, heтАЩs been ghosting. Or maybe itтАЩs a
gesture, maybe a slip, something of Alicia crossing over into Kristiana.

I put on Alicia. She is grave, too. I always thought she had a certain dignity,
but maybe there is no difference between AliciaтАЩs dignity and KristianaтАЩs
deliberateness. And maybe TereseтАЩs stillness, maybe they are all the same.

No, Sulia is different, and Lilith the vamp with her fox hair, and Stork, who
swears like a truck-driver and drinks virtual scotch and plays poker.

Beautiful. He said they were both beautiful. Sulia is beautiful. Even Stork, with
her freckles and her broad bones, Stork is not really pretty, but I think she is
beautiful. They are all beautiful to me.

I take off Alicia and IтАЩm invisible in the mirror. Open the door, ghosting
through the lobby to pick Madame StaelтАЩs, back up the elevator and ghosting,
lurking to the cafe. To watch him, sitting in the light. To see if he can see through
other people. To watch him and see through him.

The bartender, Paul-Michel, doesnтАЩt look up as I ghost through the closed