"Connie Willis - Even The Queen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

five."
"I had my first period at eleven," the waitress said, setting a bouquet down in front of me. "At school."
"I had my last one on the day the FDA approved ammenerol," Mother said.
"Three hundred and sixty-five divided by twenty-eight," Twidge said, writing on her slate. "Times forty-
three years." She looked up. "That's five hundred and fifty-nine periods."
"That can't be right," Mother said, taking the slate away from her. "It's at least five thousand."
"And they all start on the day you leave on a trip," Viola said.
"Or get married," the waitress said. Mother began writing on the slate.
I took advantage of the ceasefire to pour everyone some more dandelion wine.
Mother looked up from the slate. "Do you realize with a period of five days, you'd be menstruating for
nearly three thousand days? That's over eight solid years."
"And in between there's PMS," the waitress said, delivering flowers.
"What's PMS?" Twidge asked.
"Pre-menstrual syndrome was the name the male medical establishment fabricated for the natural
variation in hormonal levels that signal the onset of menstruation," the docent said. "This mild and
entirely normal fluctuation was exaggerated by men into a debility." She looked at Karen for
confirmation.
"I used to cut my hair," Karen said.
The docent looked uneasy.
"Once I chopped off one whole side," Karen went on. "Bob had to hide the scissors every month. And
the car keys. I'd start to cry every time I hit a red light."
"Did you swell up?" Mother asked, pouring Karen another glass of dandelion wine.
"I looked just like Orson Welles."

file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswi...en/spaar/Connie%20Willis%20-%20Even%20The%20Queen.txt (9 of 12)20-2-2006 23:39:19
 file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswijk/Mijn%20documenten/spaar/Connie%20Willis%20-%20Even%20The%20Queen.txt

"Who's Orson Welles?" Twidge asked.
"Your comments reflect the self-loathing thrust on you by the patriarchy," the docent said. "Men have
brainwashed women into thinking menstruation is evil and unclean. Women even called their menses
'the curse' because they accepted men's judgment."
"I called it the curse because I thought a witch must have laid a curse on me," Viola said. "Like in
'Sleeping Beauty.'"
Everyone looked at her.
"Well, I did," she said. "It was the only reason I could think of for such an awful thing happening to
me." She handed the folder back to the docent. "It still is."
"I think you were awfully brave," Bysshe said to Viola, "going off the ammenerol to have Twidge."
"It was awful," Viola said. "You can't imagine."
Mother sighed. "When I got my period, I asked my mother if Annette had it, too."
"Who's Annette?" Twidge said.
"A Mouseketeer," Mother said and added, at Twidge's uncomprehending look. "On TV."
"High-rez," Viola said.
"The Mickey Mouse Club," Mother said.
"There was a high-rezzer called the Mickey Mouse Club?" Twidge said incredulously.
"They were days of dark oppression in many ways," I said.
Mother glared at me. "Annette was every young girl's ideal," she said to Twidge. "Her hair was curly,
she had actual breasts, her pleated skirt was always pressed, and I could not imagine that she could have
anything so messy and undignified. Mr. Disney would never have allowed it. And if Annette didn't
have one, I wasn't going to have one either. So I asked my mother--"
"What did she say?" Twidge cut in.