"Nancy Springer - Chasing Butterfly" - читать интересную книгу автора (Springer Nancy)

dog
should end up at the pound.

As Nona eats she opens the brightly colored envelope, looks at its brochure--
turquoise-blue Caribbean seas, an Aztec festival in Mexico--and sends off her
Grand Prize Entry at once, sticking her tokens on squares that say "Five-Piece
Cordovan Luggage Set" and "World of Wonders Encyclopedia" and putting the cost
on her MasterCard, since the last time she tried to use the Visa she was told
it
was full. She seals the envelope and stamps it from the postage supply she
keeps
on the table right along with the sugar. The great-grandchildren are coming
over
this afternoon, and they will be glad to mail it for her and not tattle to the
adults.

She opens the lovely parcel-brown Carol Wright envelope and looks through the
offers. A 1248 Piece Personalized Stationery Set, only $7.95. Nona has never
understood why they call it that, stationery. It's like writing letters means
you're not going anywhere. Limited Edition Endangered Species Decorator
Plates--
they are nice, but they are not butterflies. She is looking for butterflies.
Lose Weight Overnight Vitamin E Nighttime Diet--she does not need that, she
has
always been thin enough to blow away. Cascade Dishwashing Detergent For
Spotless
Dishes Sweepstakes She is just about to read the Easy Directions, Enter Now,
No
Purchase Required, when she sees on the next page: Breakthrough In Technology!
Indoor TV Dish Antenna, only $19.95.

Now that is something worthwhile. When she was a youngster, which somehow
seems
closer all the time instead of farther away, the only way to go anywhere was
by
horse and buggy, Heaven was the half-day trip to the county seat for the
Fourth
of July, and all the glory was yet to come, the automobiles and paved roads,
radio and television, the great airships, trips into space. But now they can
bounce signals off artificial stars-- at least they look like wandering stars
overhead at night, because she saw one once, Bill showed her, and that was
what
it was like, a spark of light moving through the sky. And now they can send
brightwing pictures from the far side of the world straight to her house. She
wants to be linked to the stars and the sky, part of whatever is big and far
away. At once she writes out a check, seals and stamps its envelope and puts
it
in the napkin holder with the other.

Billy will be coming soon to drop off his grandchildren. She will have to look