"Lisa Goldstein - Fortune And Misfortune" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldstein Lisa)

Lisa Goldstein: Fortune and Misfortune
First appeared in Asimov’s Science
Fiction, May 1997. Nominated for Best
Short Story.

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This is my story, but first I have to tell
you about Jessie.

Jessie and I met at an audition. My agent
had told me they were looking for someone
to play a contemporary high school kid so
I dressed the part–torn baggy jeans, white
T-shirt, red flannel shirt tied around my
waist.

I’d been waiting for about five minutes
when Jessie walked in and gave her name to
the receptionist. She wore one of those
dress-for-success costumes that make women
look like clowns–skirt and jacket of
bright primary colors (hers were red), big
buttons down the front, hugely padded
shoulders. She looked at me and then down
at herself and laughed and grimaced at the
same time. It was an oddly endearing
expression, the gesture of someone who
knows how to poke fun at herself.

"You’re so clever," she said. She glanced
at her outfit again. "I’ve probably blown
it already."

She looked as if she wanted to talk
further, but just then the receptionist
called her name. I felt annoyed–I’d been
waiting longer than she had, though I knew
that that had nothing to do with
Hollywood’s pecking order. She was
closeted with the casting people for about
ten minutes. When she came out she looked
at me, held her palms up and shrugged
elaborately. Her gesture said, clearly as
words, I have no idea whether I made it or
not.

I didn’t think about her until the next