"Esther M. Friesner - How to Make Unicorn Pie" - читать интересную книгу автора (Friesner Esther M)

Sin.



I was so fascinated by the way the light played off my little bit of found art

that I didn't notice Muriel's return until I heard her say, "Uh-huh. Thought

so."



Caught in the act, I tried to cover up my sorry attempt at willful misdirection

by dropping the sliver onto the open pages of the magazine I'd brought into the

coffee shop with me and slamming the glossy cover shut on it. Slapping my hand

over the bare-chested male model on the cover, I gave Muriel a sickly smile.
"Dropped a contact," I said. "I don't want it to fall on the floor."



No dice. You can't fake out a woman who can tell good tuna salad from bad at

fifty paces. "Honey, who are you trying to protect?" she said. "Greta Marie? You

don't even know her."



That was true. Greta Marie Bowman belonged to the third and smallest segment of

Bowman's Ridge society: Eccentrics. As my dear mother would say, an eccentric is

what you call a lunatic who's got money. Mom was speaking from the jaded,

materialistic perspective of big city tile, however. In places like Bowman's

Ridge, we realize that money doesn't excuse abnormal behavior. You don't have to

be rich and crazy to be classed as an eccentric; you can be poor and crazy, so

long as you're also the scion of one of the town's oldest families. Or in Greta

Marie Bowman's case, the scionette.