"Eddings, David - Regina's Song V2.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

I think the Twinkie Twins got more entertainment out of
this elaborate scam than anybody else did. They were
high-school freshmen now, but they'd reverted to
whispering in twin-speak, giving me those sickeningly
cute smirks, and giggling.
I carried a full course load in both the winter and spring
quarters in 1993, and that satisfied the requirements for
graduation. It'd taken me four years to reach the point
that a full-time student achieves in two, but I was now
an Associate in Arts and Sciences-with honors, no less.
And I had a major in English, but with a lot of those
"everything" courses that didn't apply.
I went through the cap and gown ceremony with the
Austins and Greenleafs in the audience, and after the
ceremony we all went back to Greenleaf Manor for
another of those "let's steer Mark in the right direction"
sessions at which I was usually outnumbered six to one.
Inga Greenleaf led the assault. "What in the world
were you thinking of, Mark?" she demanded, waving a
copy of my transcript at me. "Your grades are very
good, but half the courses you took weren't even
remotely connected to your major."
"I didn't have a major when I started, Inga," I
explained. "I was just browsing. It was only after a year
or so that I finally settled on English."
"There are some definite holes in this," she told me,
still brandishing my transcript. "I've checked with the
University of Washington, and you'll have to take a
couple of courses this summer to fill in the gaps. Les
has contacts with some local banks, and your grades
are good enough to qualify you for a student loan."
I threw a quick look at my dad. We'd already
discussed that at some length. He shook his head
slightly.
"I'm sorry, Inga," I said flatly. "Let's just forget that
student loan business. Sooner or later, I'm going to
have a mortgage on a house biting chunks out of my
paychecks, and probably car payments as well-that of
Dodge can't run forever. I'm not going to add a student
loan on top of that. I won't hand three-quarters of my
paycheck to the Last National Bank to pay interest. I'll
look for a part-time job, but no jobbee, no schoolie, and
that's final."
"Oh, goodie!" one of the twins said, clapping her hands
together. "We get to keep him!"
"Shush, Twink," her mother snapped. I don't think she
even realized that my Twinkie invention had crept into
her vocabulary.
The boss was squinting at the far wall. "When you get
right down to it, Mark, you've already got a part-time