"Heinlein, Robert A - All You Zombies (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

you learn fast in an orphanage-"
"I know "
"-I made a solemn vow that any kid of mine would have
both a pop and a mom. It kept me "pure, " quite a feat in that
vicinity - I had to learn to fight to manage it. Then I got
older and realized I stood darn little chance of getting
married - for the same reason I hadn't been adopted --. He
scowled. I was horse-faced and buck-toothed, flat-chested and
straight-haired.
"You don't look any worse than I do. --
"Who cares how a barkeep looks? Or a writer? But peaple
wanting to adopt pick little blue-eyed golden-haired moron.
Later on, the boys want bulging breasts, a cute face, and an
Oh-you-wonderful-male manner. -- He shrugged. I couldn't
compete. So I decided to join the W. E. N. C. H. E. S. --
Eh? --
"Women's Emergency National Corps, Hospitality &
Entertainment Section, what they now call "Space
Angels'-Auxiliary Nursing Group, Extraterrestrial Legions. --
I knew both terms, once I had them chronized. We use
still a third name, it's that elite military service corps:
Women's Hospitality Order Refortifying & Encouraging Spacemen.
Vocabulary shift is the worst hurdle in time-jumps - did you
know that "service station" once fractions? Once on an
assignment in the Churchill Era, a woman said to me, "Meet me
at the service station next door -- - which is not what it
sounds; a service station" (then) wouldn't have a bed in it.

He went on: "It was when they first admitted you can't
send men into space for months and years and not relieve the
tension. You remember how the wowsers screamed? - that improved
my chance, since volunteers were scarce. A gal had to be
respectable, preferably virgin (they liked to train them from
scratch), above average mentally, and stable emotionally. But
most volunteers were old hookers, or neurotics who would crack
up ten days off Earth. So I didn't need looks; if they accepted
me, they would fix my buck teeth, put a wave in my hair, teach
me to walk and dance and how to listen to a man pleasingly, and
everything else - plus training for the prime duties. They
would even use plastic surgery if it would help - nothing too
good for our Boys.
"Best yet, they made sure you didn't get pregnant
during your enlistment - and you were almost certain to marry
at the end of your hitch. Same way today, A. N. G. E. L. S.
marry spacers - they talk the language.
"When I was eighteen I was placed as a `mother's
helper'. This family simply wanted a cheap servant, but I
didn't mind as I couldn't enlist till I was twenty-one. I did
housework and went to night school - pretending to continue my
high school typing and shorthand but going to a charm class