"Charles de Lint - Big City Littles" - читать интересную книгу автора (De Lint Charles)

rest into her coffee.
"So why would you want to become birds again, anyway?" she asked.
"Look at the size of us. Can you imagine how hard it is for us to get around while still keeping our secret?"
"Point taken."
Neither spoke while they ate their cookies. Sheri sipped at her coffee.
"Did your grandfather really tell you our story?" Jenky asked after a moment.
Sheri nodded.
"Could you bring me to him?"
"He passed away a couple of years ago."
"I'm sorry."
Silence fell again between them.
"Look, "Sheri said after a moment. "I don't know any more than what you read in my book, but I could look into i
for you."
"Really?"
"No, I'm actually way too busy. Joke," she added as his face fell. "It was a joke."
"Palko John said we could offer you a reward for your help."
"What sort of reward?"
"Anything you want."
"Like a magic wish?" Sheri asked, intrigued.
He nodded. "We only have the one left."
"Why don't you use it to make yourselves birds again?"
"They only work for other people."
"Figures. There's always a catch, isn't there? But I don't want your wish."
He went all glum again. "So you won't help us?"
"Didn't I already say I would? I just don't like the idea of magic wishes. There's something creepy about them. I th
we should earn what we get, not have it handed to us on a little silver platter."
That earned her a warm smile.
 "I think we definitely chose the right person to help us," he said.
"Well, don't start celebrating yet," Sheri told him. "It's not like I have any idea how to go about it. But like I said, I
will look into it."
"I've decided to give up men," Sheri told Holly Rue later that day. She'd arrived early at Holly's store for the
afternoon book club meeting that the used book shop hosted on the last Wednesday of every month. The book they'd b
discussing today was Alice Hoffman's The River King, which Sheri had adored. Since she had to wait for the others to
here to discuss it, she kept herself busy talking with Holly and fussing with Snippet, Holly's Jack Russell terrier, much
the dog's delight.
"I thought you'd already done that," Holly said.
"I did. But this time I really mean it."
"Have a bad date?"
"It's not so much having a bad date as, A, not wanting to see him again after said date, but he does and keeps callin
or B, wanting to see him again because it seemed we were getting along so well, but he doesn't call. I'm worn out from
all."
"You could call him," Holly said.
"I could. Would you?"
Holly sighed. "Not to ask him out."
"I thought women's lib was supposed to have sorted all of this out by now."
"I think it's not only society that's supposed to change, but us, too. We have to think differently."
"So why don't we?"
Holly shook her head. "Same reason they don't call, I guess. Give me a hob over a man any day."
Sheri cocked her head and studied Holly for a long moment.
"What?" Holly said. "Did I grow an extra nose?"