"Paul Di Filippo - Two CC's of Bestseller, Stat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Di Filippo Paul)

Plumage From Pegasus
by Paul Di Filippo

Two CC’s of Bestseller, Stat!

****

“Soon, Milwaukee-area book lovers needing to check their blood pressure
or just wanting information on the latest health trends will be able to do so
while picking up some new reads. Milwaukee’s Froedtert Hospital and the
Medical College of Wisconsin will join forces this fall with the Harry W.
Schwartz Bookshops in a unique collaboration to provide health information
and resources to consumers. Founded in 2002, Small Stones Health
Resource Center ... will move into a 3,800-square-foot space next to the
Harry Schwartz Bookshop in Brookfield.... Small Stones will have a full-time
nurse and other health educators on hand, as well as a resource library,
screenings and classes. A retail area will provide health and wellness
books, wellness journals, and other products for the health-minded
consumer....”

—Claire Kirch, “Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop Healthy Place to Be,”
Publishers Weekly Daily, August 15, 2006.

****

That day at work, I was feeling a little under the weather—just a trace
of flu, I hoped and believed, based on my red runny nose and scratchy
throat—so I decided to stop by my local bookstore on the way home. I’d
pick up a big fat juicy bestseller to while away any convalesence. And I
could also indulge in a hot chocolate from the bookstore’s café. That would
all certainly make me feel much better.

As I headed to the Brookfield mall, I realized that I didn’t go shopping
often enough. I couldn’t remember the last time I had visited this Harry W.
Schwartz branch. Living one’s life online had certain advantages, but there
was nothing like good old-fashioned mingling with humanity in the flesh!

When I reached the entrance to the familiar store, I encountered
something unexpected: an unusual kind of sensor gate on the order of an
airport metal detector.

Some new kind of security or anti-theft measure, I thought, and
walked on through.
 But the gate beeped fiercely at my passage and I prepared for the
descent of store guards, already phrasing my excuses and jokes about my
innocence of shoplifting and the unwarranted sonic assault.

Instead, I was beset by two nurses! The white-clad, intensely
competent-looking women swooped up on either side of me. They wore
hygienic facial masks and latex gloves.