"Mary A. Turzillo - Mirandas Monster" - читать интересную книгу автора (Turzillo Mary A)

Miranda pulled yard-long loose hairs out of the brush. "You must really like
Luigi."

Vivianne blew a kiss toward the ceiling. "The man is right on. What can I
say?"

Miranda sighed. "Okay, I'll grade in my office."

Saturday morning in Indian-summer heat, Miranda climbed the stone steps to the
doors of Fairchild Hall. The lock was stiff; the door creaked open like the
portal to the mead hall where Beowulf greeted Hrothgar.

She was tempted to go look at the Grendel mural again. But if it took her an
hour to do just one paper, a class of thirty was going to take the whole
weekend.

So she skipped down the creaky stairs to her office and settled at the old oak
desk, glad that her two office mates were elsewhere.

"The Angel-Sexton period of literature is very interesting" began the first
paper. Miranda fought an impulse to write BORING, BORING in the margin. Her
red
pen took on a life of its own, bleeding corrections and advice: TRY FOR MORE
VIVID LANGUAGE or I CAN'T FOLLOW YOUR LOGIC.

This was the first set of freshmen papers Miranda had ever graded, so she did
not really find them boring. When she looked up, it was almost lunch time. She
swung around in the oak office chair.

A man stood in the office doorway, watching.

How long had he been there? He wore a polyester suit too small for his big
frame
and a frayed green tie. His eyes were angry, his face unhealthily pale and
sweaty.

She swallowed. "Are you looking for someone?"

"Professor Perletier."

"I am Professor Perletier." The title sounded odd, but she tried to look
professorial.

"Did you get my note?"

Miranda felt annoyed. "What note?"

The man bent down and fished something out of her wastebasket. "This." He
thrust