"Enchanted, Inc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Swendson Shanna)

Enchanted, Inc.

A Novel by Shanna Swendson

I'd always heard that New York City was weird, but I had no idea just how weird until I got here.
Before I left Texas to move here, my family tried to talk me out of it, telling me all sorts of urban
legends about the strange and horrible things that happened in the big bad city. Even my college
friends who'd been living in New York for a while told me stories about the weird and wonderful
things they'd seen that didn't cause the natives to so much as blink. My friends joked that an alien
from outer space could walk down Broadway without anyone looking twice. I used to think they
were exaggerating. But now, after having survived a year in the city, I still saw things every day
that shocked and amazed me but didn't cause anyone else to so much as raise an eyebrow. Nearly
naked street performers, people doing tap-dance routines on the sidewalk, and full-scale film
productions--complete with celebrities--weren't worth a second glance to the locals, while I
couldn't help but gawk. It made me feel like such a hick, no matter how hard I tried to act
sophisticated.

Take this morning, for instance. The girl ahead of me on the sidewalk was wearing wings--those
strap-on fairy wings people wear as part of a Halloween costume. Halloween was more than a
month away, and while I couldn't afford designer fashions, I read enough fashion magazines to
know that fairy wings were not a current fashion statement. She must be some neobohemian
trendsetter from NYU, I thought, or maybe in the costume design program. She'd done a really
good job on the wings because the straps were invisible, making it look like she had real wings.
They even fluttered slightly, but that was probably just the wind currents from walking. I forced
my attention away from Miss Airy Fairy to check my watch, then groaned. There was no way I'd
make it to work on time if I walked, and my boss was usually lying in wait for me on Monday
mornings, so I didn't dare come in even a minute late. I'd have to take the subway to work, even
though it would take a precious two dollars off my MetroCard. I'd make up for it by walking
home, I promised myself. When I reached the Union Square station, I was surprised to see Miss
Airy Fairy head down into the subway ahead of me instead of continuing toward the university.
People who work downtown tend not to dress like that for work. As I followed her down the
stairs, I noticed that she wore what must have been platform shoes with Lucite soles, which gave
her the appearance of floating a couple of inches off the ground. She moved remarkably
gracefully for someone wearing what had to be pretty clunky shoes. As usual, no one on the
platform gave her a second glance. I'd been here a year, and I'd yet to exchange one of those
knowing "only in New York" glances with anyone. How could everyone be so jaded? Surely
there were people around who were newer to the city than I was, and then there were the tourists,
who were supposed to stare at everything. But then I noticed a guy looking at Miss Airy Fairy.
He didn't seem shocked or surprised, though. Instead, he smiled at her like he knew her. That in
and of itself was odd because he didn't seem the type to spend his weekends wearing a cape and
playing Middle Earth in Central Park. He looked like a typical Wall Street type, wearing a
well-tailored dark suit and carrying a briefcase--the kind of Mr. Right that just about every career
girl in New York hopes to snag. I'd guess he was a few years older than I was, and he was quite
good-looking, even if he was a little shorter than average. Mr. Right (if he wasn't mine, he had to
be somebody's) glanced at his watch, then up the tunnel, like he was looking for the next train.
He muttered something under his breath--probably something like "Where is that train?" or "I'm
going to be late"--twitched his wrist, and next thing I knew, I heard the rumble that signaled an
approaching train. If I didn't know better, I would have thought he summoned it. I wasn't
complaining because I needed the train myself. The waiting passengers shoved their way onto the
train, then the conductor's voice came over the PA system, saying, "Attention passengers. Due to