"Connie Willis - Miracle and Other Christmas Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

Christmas spirit thing? I mean, who wants to spend Christmas Eve at an office party?"
"I do," Lauren said. She set her shopping bag down on the desk, sat down, and began taking
off her boots.
"Can I borrow your stapler?" Evie asked. "I've lost mine again. I'm ordering my mother the
Water of the Month, and I need to staple my check to the order form."
"The Water of the Month?" Lauren said, opening her desk drawer and taking out her stapler.
"You know, they send you bottles of a different one every month. Perrier, Evian,
Calistoga." She peered into Lauren's shopping bag. "Do you have Christmas presents in there?
I hate people who have their shopping done four weeks before Christmas."
"It's four days till Christmas," Lauren said, "and I don't have it all done. I still don't have
anything for my sister. But I've got all my friends, including you, done." She reached into the
shopping bag and pulled out her pumps. "And I found a dress for the office party."
"Did you buy it?"
"No," She put on one of her shoes. "I'm going to try it on during my lunch hour."
"If it's still there," Evie said gloomily. "I had this echidna toothpick holder all picked out
for my brother, and when I went back to buy it, they were all gone."
"I asked them to hold the dress for me," Lauren said. She put on her other shoe. "It's
gorgeous. Black off-the-shoulder. Sequined."
"Still trying to get Scott Buckley to notice you, huh? I don't do things like that anymore.
Nineties women don't use sexist tricks to attract men. Besides, I decided he was too cute to
ever notice somebody like me." She sat down on the edge of Lauren's desk and started leafing
through the catalog. "Here's something your sister might like. The Vegetable of the Month.
February's okra."
"She lives in southern California," Lauren said, shoving her boots under the desk.
"Oh. How about the Sunscreen of the Month?"
"No," Lauren said. "She's into New Age stuff. Channeling. Aromatherapy. Last year she
sent me a crystal pyramid mate selector for Christmas."
"The Eastern Philosophy of the month," Evie said. "Zen, Sufism, tai chi—"
"I'd like to get her something she'd really like," Lauren mused. "I always have a terrible
time figuring out what to get people for Christmas. So this year, I decided things were going
to be different. I wasn't going to be tearing around the mall the day before Christmas, buying
things no one would want and wondering what on earth I was going to wear to the office
party. I started doing my shopping in September, I wrapped my presents as soon as I bought
them, I have all my Christmas cards done and ready to mail—"
"You're disgusting," Evie said. "Oh, here, I almost forgot." She pulled a folded slip of paper
out of her catalog and handed it to Lauren. "It's your name for the Secret Santa gift exchange.
PMS says you're supposed to bring your present for it by Friday so it won't interfere with the
presents Santa Claus hands out at the office party."
Lauren unfolded the paper, and Evie leaned over to read it. "Who'd you get? Wait, don't
tell me. Scott Buckley."
"No. Fred Hatch. And I know just what to get him."
"Fred? The fat guy in Documentation? What is it, the Diet of the Month?"
"This is supposed to be the season of love and charity, not the season when you make
mean remarks about someone just because he's overweight," Lauren said sternly. "I'm going
to get him a videotape of Miracle on 34th Street."
Evie looked uncomprehending.
"It's Fred's favorite movie. We had a wonderful talk about it at the office party last year."
"I never heard of it."
"It's about Macy's Santa Claus. He starts telling people they can get their kids' toys cheaper
at Gimbel's, and then the store psychiatrist decides he's crazy—"