"Leslie What & Nina Kiriki Hoffman - Chain of Command" - читать интересную книгу автора (What Leslie)

Chain of Command
Leslie What &
Nina Kiriki Hoffman


"Mom," Kayla said in that tone teenagers use when they're practicing for the time they will put you in the
nursing home. "You're not going to wear THAT, are you?"



I forced myself to smile, making sure I showed teeth. I'd had my canines lengthened and my incisors filed
to subtle points. Remember, I told myself. I'm the mom. I'm Alpha. Wolf Woman. A CEO of Earth
Muthas, a militant woman-owned multinational. Only my teenage daughter was powerful enough to make
me forget this.



I was wearing mail and a leather thong and copper breastplate because I had a focus group to lead in half
an hour and there wasn't time between now and then to change from civvies. I held the keys in my mouth
for a second while I tightened my belt. All I had to do was drop off Kayla at her friend Tiffany's; from
there they would walk to their cheerleader meeting at the high school. I could hide in the Jeep; no one
need see me.



Kayla was five foot seven and growing fast enough that I expected her to surpass me during the coming
year, when she would be a junior. Her hair was bronze from a bottle, though on her, it looked feminine.
She preferred a fruity-smelling department store perfume called Flower Power to my musky Marker, the
flagship product for my company. Her scent made my eyes water, but I decided against saying anything.
"Choose your issues," our family counselor had warned.



I had chosen.



So had Kayla.



The issue was not about scent.



Kayla did not want to come with me to this weekend's Women Warriors retreat, starting tomorrow,
where one hundred women would gather to trap trespassing trolls, celebrate our strength, hunt our own
dinners and leave nature's scavengers to do dishes when they picked the carcasses clean. Instead, my
daughter wanted to stay in town with Tiffany and shop for makeup and high heels. Kayla was a pacifist. I
was a warrior, an awkward situation for us both.