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

"Why don't you get him It's a Wonderful Life? That's my favorite Christmas movie."
"Yours and everybody else's. I think Fred and I are the only two people in the world who
like Miracle on 34th Street better. See, Edmund Gwenn, he's Santa Claus, gets
committed to Bellevue because he thinks he's Santa Claus, and since there isn't any Santa
Claus, he has to be crazy, but he is Santa Claus, and Fred Gailey, that's John Payne, he's a
lawyer in the movie, he decides to have a court hearing to prove it and—"
"I watch It's a Wonderful Life every Christmas. I love the part where Jimmy Stewart and
Donna Reed fall into the swimming pool," Evie said. "What happened to the stapler?"


They had the dress and it fit, but there was an enormous jam-up at the cash register, and then
they couldn't find a hanging bag for it.
"Just put it in a shopping bag," Lauren said, looking anxiously at her watch.
"It'll wrinkle," the clerk said ominously and continued to search for a hanging bag. By the
time Lauren convinced her a shopping bag would work, it was already 12:15. She had hoped
she'd have a chance to look for a present for her sister, but there wasn't going to be time. She
still had to run the dress home and mail the Christmas cards.
I can pick up Fred's video, she thought, fighting her way onto the escalator. That
wouldn't take much time, since she knew
what she wanted, and maybe they'd have something with Shirley MacLaine in it she could get
her sister. Ten minutes to buy the video, she thought, tops.
It took her nearly half an hour. There was only one copy, which the clerk couldn't find.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have It's a Wonderful Life?" she asked Lauren. "It's my
favorite movie."
"I want Miracle on 34th Street," Lauren said patiently. "With Edmund Gwenn and Natalie
Wood."
The clerk picked up a copy of It's a Wonderful Life from a huge display. "See, Jimmy
Stewart's in trouble and he wishes he'd never been born, and this angel grants him his wish—"
"I know," Lauren said. "I don't care. I want Miracle on 34th Street."
"Okay!" the clerk said, and wandered off to look for it, muttering, "Some people don't have
any Christmas spirit."
She finally found it, in the M's, of all places, and then insisted on giftwrapping it.
By the time Lauren made it back to her apartment, it was a quarter to one. She would have
to forget lunch and mailing the Christmas cards, but she could at least take them with her,
buy the stamps, and put the stamps on at work.
She took the video out of the shopping bag and set it on the coffee table next to her purse,
picked up the bag, and started for the bedroom.
Someone knocked on the door.
"I don't have time for this," she muttered, and opened the door, still holding the
shopping bag.
 It was a young man wearing a "Save the Whales" T-shirt and khaki pants. He had
shoulder-length blond hair arid a vague expression that made her think of southern
California.
"Yes? What is it?" she asked.
"I'm here to give you a Christmas present," he said.
"Thank you, I'm not interested in whatever you're selling," she said, and shut the door.
He knocked again immediately. "I'm not selling anything," he said through the door.
"Really."
I don't have time for this, she thought, but she opened the door again.
"I'm not a salesguy," he said. "Have you ever heard of the Maharishi Ram Das?"