"Allen Steele - Zwarte Piet's Tale" - читать интересную книгу автора (Steele Allen)

тАЬThen you'd appreciate the similarity between Santa's elves and Zwarte Piet. It means Black Peter ... he's
a Moor.тАЭ

I shrugged. тАЬSounds like a demotion. My great-grandfather used to play Santa every Christmas at a
shopping mall. There weren't many of them black Santas back then, I'm told.тАЭ

тАЬYour grandfather played Santa Claus?тАЭ He raised an eyebrow. тАЬNow there's a coincidence. My father
played Sinterklass in our village, as did my grandfather.тАЭ

тАЬNo kidding?тАЭ

тАЬGoes with the genes.тАЭ He stroked his trim white beard. тАЬMen in my family have the right whiskers for
the job. All we have to do is let our beard grow out and...тАЭ

He stopped just then. To this day, I'll never forget his slack-jawed expression as he stared at me in
wonderment. He had just spoken of the glow that children have on Christmas morning; in that instant, I
saw something like that appear in his own face. Wonder and joy, wonder and joy; tidings of wonder and
joy ... I don't believe in telepathy any more than I do in Santa Claus, yet I suddenly knew exactly what he
was thinking.

тАЬOh, no, you don't,тАЭ I said, turning to hop off the stool and book out of there. тАЬDon't even think for a
minute...тАЭ

тАЬOh, shut up and sit down.тАЭ Doc grabbed my wrist before I could make it to the door. тАЬLet's see if we
can work this out.тАЭ

Against my better judgement, I stayed. Doc finished his beer, and then we switched to coffee, and by the
end of the evening I had a new name.

****

Sinterklass and Zwarte Piet live in the caldera of Olympus Mons, within an invisible buckydome which
contains their secret toyshop. When they're not making toys or teaching sandbugs to perform tricks for
their flea circus, they watch all the boys and girls of Mars through magic telescopes that can peer through
walls, putting together a long list of who's been naughty and who's been nice.

Then, on the first sol of Christmas Week, they load their gifts aboard their airship, climb aboard, and fly
away from Olympus Mons. Over the next seven sols they visit the colonies one by one, stopping at each
to distribute presents to the good children of Mars. They may stay overnight at a settlement, because
sometimes Black Peter gets too tired to fly St. Nicholas to the next colony, but if they do stay, the
children should try to leave the pair alone, or next Christmas they may find the boots of their skinsuits
filled with sand instead of candy.

That's the story that we artfully disseminated through the Marsnet. It was posted on all the usual sites kids
would mouse, plus a few that their parents would find. It isn't hard to create a myth, if know what you're
doing, but Doc and I didn't do it all by ourselves, and not without running into a little trouble.

Arsia Station's board of selectmen were skeptical when we formally pitched the idea to them at the next
weekly meeting. They thought Doc and I had dreamed this up as a sneaky way of earning overtime until
Doc explained that we would also be transporting food, medical supplies, and replacement parts to the