"Big U, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stephenson Neal)

of complicated. It means something personal happened between
someone and her boyfriend, so everyone else has to know about it.
Listen. We've got to escape, okay?"
"Okay."
"Go to Room 103 when the alarm sounds."
"Alarm?" But Hyacinth was already gliding out.
Sarah was quickly trapped in a conversation group including
Mitzi and Mari. She accepted a cup of Kool-Aid/vodka punch and
smiled when she could. Everyone was being nice to her in case she
felt like an idiot for having said those things during the meeting.
Mari asked if her boyfriend helped out with the hard parts of being
President and Sarah had to say that just now she didn't have a
boyfriend.
"Ahaa!" said everyone. "Don't worry, Sarah, we'll see what we
can come up with. No prob, now you're an Airhead."
Sarah was groping for an answer when the local smoke alarm
howled and the Airheads moaned in disappointment. As they all
trooped off to their rooms to make themselves a little more
presentable, Sarah headed for Room 103, following a heavy trail of
marijuana smoke with her nose. As this was only the smoke alarm,
only the twelfth floor would be evacuated.
Hyacinth pulled Sarah into the room and carefully fitted a wet
reefer to her lips. It was dark, and a young black woman was
slumped over a desk asleep, stereo on loud. Hyacinth Went to the
vent window and released an amazing primal scream toward F
Tower. Alter some prompting from her hostess, Sarah gave back the
joint and followed suit. Hyacinth's Sleeping roommate, Lucy, sat up,
sighed, then went over and lay down on her bed. Sarah and Hyacinth
sat on Hyacinth's bed and drank milk from an illegal mini-fridge in
the closet.
They silently finished the joint, shaking their heads at each other
and laughing in disbelief.
"Ever done LSD?" asked Sarah.
"No. Why? Got some?"
"Oh. jeez, I wasn't suggesting it. I was going to say, for a
minute there I thought I was back on it. That's how unreal those
people are to me."
"You think they're strange?" said Hyacinth. "I think they're
very normal."
"That's what I'm afraid of. Your room is pretty nice; I feel very
much at home here." It was a nice room, one of the few Plex rooms I
ever saw that was pleasant to be in. It was full of illegal cooking
appliances and stashes of food, and the walls had been illegally
painted white. Wall hangings and plants were everywhere.
"Well, we were in the Army—Lucy and me," said Hyacinth,
carefully fitting a roach clip. "That's almost like LSD."
By now their wing had been evacuated, and a couple of security
guards were plodding up and down the hallways pretending to
inspect for sources of smoke. Sarah and Hyacinth leaned together
and spoke quietly.