Книга только для ознакомления
. Gwen, what is a polite
way for me to ask strangers how they pronounce their names?"
"Let me try it, dear. I'll say, 'Miz Tollivuh, this is Gloria Meade Calhoun
f'om Savannah. Do you have a cousin, Stacey Mac, f'om Chahlston?' When she
corrects my pronunciation of her name, I apologize and switch off. But if she-or
he- accepts the short form but denies knowing Stacey Mac, I say, 'I wonduhed
about that. She said it, Talley-ah-pharoh... but I knew that was wrong.' What
then, Richard? Work it up into a date or switch off by 'accident'?"
"Make a date, if possible."
"A date for you? Or for me?"
"For you, and then I'll go with you. Or keep the date in your place. But I
must first buy a hat."
"A hat?"
"One of those funny boxes you sit on the flat part of your head. Or would
if you were dirtside."
"I know what a hat is! But I was born dirtside same as you were. But I
doubt if a hat has ever been seen off Earth. Where would you buy one?"
"I don't know, best girl, but I can tell you why I need one. So that I can
tip my hat politely and say, 'Sir or madam, pray tell me why someone wishes you
dead by noon Sunday.' Gwen, this has been worrying me-how to open such a
discussion. There are accepted polite modes for almost any inquiry, from
proposing adultery to a previously chaste wife to soliciting a bribe. But how
does one open this subject?"
"Can't you just say, 'Don't look now but somebody's trying to kill you'?"
"No, that's the wrong order
|
