"James Patrick Kelly - The Leila Torn Show" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kelly James Patrick)

segment, the devil had offered her a miracle cure in exchange for leaving the new Leila in her mother's
malevolent clutches. This, of course, was something the old Leila could never do. The Leila Torn Show
knew it was possibly foolhardy to go up against her audience like that, but that was the kind of show she
was. People would either have to accept her or click on. And nobody but The Leila Torn Show would
ever know how much it hurt to let her poor, brave Leila sacrifice herself for the good of the show.

Now she had to help the new Leila sell this plot twist to the hundred million customers of the Allview.
The Leila Torn Show was by no means certain that she was up to the task, which is why she'd asked
Anita to watch out for her.

The new Leila had inherited the old Leila's dressing room and had remade it to her own tastes. The old
Leila liked hard surfaces that showed their years. There had been rust on the overhead beams and her
Napoleon IV mirror had needed resilvering. This Leila was a fan of butterflies. The wallscape showed a
tropical rainforest swarming with Longwings and Julias and Swallowtails and Blue Waves. The mirror
was in the shape of a Gulf Frittilary and was lit by glowworms. Reflected in it was the face of the new
lead of The Leila Torn Show. Her eyes were haunted and when she saw Anita her mouth puckered into
a walnut. Anita was certain then that this episode was about to plunge off a cliff, but she was talent. It
was her role here to underplay her feelings, show confidence in the new Leila that she didn't feel.

"Ready for your big debut?" she said brightly.

"There were supposed to be raisins," said Leila stiffly. "I specifically asked Herb for raisins."

Anita glanced at the bowl of Muscat raisins on the dressing table, dark as garnets. Leila followed her
gaze and then with a screech of frustration swept the bowl onto the floor, shattering it.

"I said golden raisins!" She bounced on her chair twice. "I thought we spoke English on this show."

Anita took a breath. "We all get the jitters, Leila." Then another, longer breath. "I remember my first
episode..."

"I didn't upload my part." She regarded herself with grim satisfaction in the butterfly mirror, as if she had
just issued some kind of artistic manifesto.

Anita clamped her teeth together so hard she thought she might shatter a molar. The good of the show,
she told herself. "Well then," she said carefully, "since there's no time for you to dip into dreamspace to
catch yourself up, the whips will have to feed you lines through your earstone." Anita tried to imagine how
a talent could turn into a stupid. "Don't worry, they do that all the time with last minute rewrites."

"I did it on purpose, you know. I'm going to give a cold reading." She emphasized cold and reading as if
these were terms of art that Anita might not be familiar with. "That way whatever I say will sound like I
just made it up."

"Like you just...? But you're on in ten minutes with Turnabout," Anita was so taken aback that she spoke
before she realized what she was saying. "He'll stick his tongue into your ear and then tuck you into his
back pocket, if you don't know what you're doing."

"He wouldn't." Leila's eyes went wide. "He came to visit me yesterday in dreamspace. He seemed so
nice. He brought me a puppy."