"Turzillo-MirandasMonster" - читать интересную книгу автора (Turzillo Mary A)

So she let them go early, then went over to introduce herself properly to
Grendel.

"Hello, you 'blaed-fastne feond."' Nobody was watching, so she closed her eyes
and kissed Grendel.

And -- Miranda had always been imaginative -- felt her lips press a leathery
cheek, smelling of sea-water.

At the threshold of hearing, fairies tittered. But when she opened her eyes,
Titania, Grendel, and the whole mural looked as innocent and flat as when she
had first seen them.

Dr. Fable stopped Miranda on the way out of the building. "You've discovered our
Grendel," she said. "Perhaps you'll discover yourself in the mural, too."

In her apartment, after her freshmen wrote in class, Miranda was amazed that it
took her an hour to grade just one essay.

"Be cool," said Vivianne, her roommate, "and disappear tomorrow. Luigi is
crashing here on his way to Oberlin, and we'd dig some privacy."

"But I have papers to grade."

"Bummer. That's what they build libraries for."

Miranda went into the bedroom and brushed her hair, furiously. She didn't want
to grade papers in the library.

Vivianne followed her, toying with her love-beads. "I'll do the dishes for a
month. Dig it. A whole month."

Miranda pulled yard-long loose hairs out of the brush. "You must really like
Luigi."

Vivianne blew a kiss toward the ceiling. "The man is right on. What can I say?"

Miranda sighed. "Okay, I'll grade in my office."

Saturday morning in Indian-summer heat, Miranda climbed the stone steps to the
doors of Fairchild Hall. The lock was stiff; the door creaked open like the
portal to the mead hall where Beowulf greeted Hrothgar.

She was tempted to go look at the Grendel mural again. But if it took her an
hour to do just one paper, a class of thirty was going to take the whole
weekend.

So she skipped down the creaky stairs to her office and settled at the old oak
desk, glad that her two office mates were elsewhere.