"Patricia A. McKillip - The Snow Queen" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKillip Patricia A)

known. Then he dumped me like soggy cereal. I was just another
pretty face and recycled bod to him. Three days after he offered me
marriage, children, cars as big as luxury liners, trips to the family
graveyard in Europe, he couldn't even remember my name. Susie,
he called me. Hello, Susie, how are you, what can I do for you? I
was so miserable I wanted to eat mothballs. I wanted to lie on the
sidewalk and sunburn myself to death. The worms wouldn't have
touched me, I thought. Not even they could be interested."


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The Snow Queen


"What did you do?" Gerda asked. Briony, reveling in despair, lost
her thread of invention. The waitress refilled Gerda's cup.
"I knew a guy like that," the waitress said. "I danced on his car in
spiked heels. Then I slashed his tires. Then I found out it wasn't his
car."
"What did I do?" Briony said. "What did I do?" She paused
dramatically. The waitress had stopped chewing her gum, waiting
for an answer. "WellтАФI mean, of course I did what I had to. What
else could I do, but what women like me do when men drop-kick
their hearts out of the field. Women like me. Of course women like
you are different."
"What did you do?" Gerda asked again. Her eyes were wide and
very dark; the brandy had flushed her cheeks. Drops of melted snow
glittered like jewels in her disheveled hair. Briony gazed at her,
musing.
"With money, you'd think you'd have more choices, wouldn't you?
But money or love never taught you how to live. You don't know
how to take care of yourself. So if Kay doesn't love you, you have
to wander into the snow and freeze. But women like me, and
Brenda hereтАФ"
"Jennifer," the waitress muttered.
"Jennifer, here, we're so used to fending for ourselves every day that
it gets to be a habit. You're not used to fending, so you don't have
the habit. So what you have to do is start pretending you have
something to live for."
Gerda's eyes filled; a tear dropped into her chocolate. "I haven't."

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The Snow Queen


"Of course you haven't, that's what I've been saying. That's why you
have to pretendтАФ"
"Why? It's easier just to walk back out into the snow."
"But if you keep pretending and pretending, one day you'll stumble
onto something you care enough to live for, and if you turn yourself