"A. R. Morlan - The Anabe Girls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morlan A R)

at the corners into a sort-of half-moon crescent of thin lips leeching out into a mere
wrinkle in her cheeks. And her eyesтАФthey didnтАЩt track, as Jacob discovered when
he moved his own forefinger back and forth before her face. All she did was
quasi-smile and stare. In the time he stood before her, she did blink, a couple of
times in well over two minutes. But that was about all...

****

OOSizeOO: Pill diuretics only go so far, you have to supplement them with
foods that do it naturally. Plus you can never get too far from a bottle of really icy
waterтАФput it in the freezer for half an hour before you go anywhere, so itтАЩs a little bit
crunchy when you sip it. Chewing on ice works too, but itтАЩs noisy, and sometimes
you can crack a molar. But what I wanted to tell you about was something I saw on
cable TV, a show about these Buddhist monks, over in Japan a few centuries
agoтАФthey achieved something beyond anorexia, something so totally perfect I can
barely type this, IтАЩm so excited.

They were living mummies. Like no body fat, anywhere on their bodies. The
thought of it is so exciting, I know my body is devouring calories by me just
thinking about it. Of course they did die eventually, but before that, they were flesh,
muscle and bone, and thatтАЩs about it. Perfection ... wasted on guys, of course, but
still ... And what is coolest of all is, they did it by eating, yet not really eating-eating.
Like eating food. For seven years prior to them digging a hole in the ground then
going down to sit in it, they ate nothing but things like bark off certain trees, pine
needles, and not much else. And they stood under icy waterfalls ... we all know how
useful shivering is, donтАЩt we? ;-)

So, once theyтАЩd melted off all that body fat, their bodies were virtually
mummified, so that when theyтАЩd go sit in their holes, once they were covered up by
another monk, all they had to do was wait for two weeks or so, and then, if they
were lucky, they were perfectly preserved for like forever after that. If they were
slack, and snuck something to eat-eat, they didnтАЩt mummify properly. And they
rotted. What a tribute to them, to stay perfect after death. No wonder the other
monks worshipped them...

****
 тАЬEverybody, ten minutes until curtainтАФтАЭ


Jacob walked back to his waiting model and, despite the time warning, took a
few precious seconds to lift up his girlтАЩs hair, and bend down to study the nape of
her taut-fleshed neck. HeтАЩd been hoping against hope that those initials wouldnтАЩt be
there, that ShaneтАЩs model was merely into body art ... but they were there, a little
lighter in color, not so recessed into the skin. Like something from a bad Nazi movie
... those two repeated letters indented in the skin. Jacob wondered what sort of metal
they used to make the brandтАФSteele, perhaps?

тАЬJake, bring your girl over here, ok? She still needs her make-upтАФтАЭ Across
the room, MarciaтАЩs voice cut through JacobтАЩs reverie like scissors lopping off split
ends.