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Fifth Avenue windows, the Cathedral of St. Paul, the United Nations complex, the Empire State Building.
It was breathtaking.
By midafternoon he was running out of gas, with no idea of where a gas station might be, practically no
money in his pockets, and not a clue about where he might find a motel room. But he did see a police
precinct station halfway down the block, with half a dozen blue-and-white police cars double-parked in
the narrow street, blocking traffic almost completely.
He double-parked behind a police car, got out, and started into the station. Then he remembered he was
now in New York City, the Big Apple, and sprinted back to lock the doors of his old hatchback.
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Contrary to what he had been led to expect by watching hundreds of TV police shows, the precinct station
house was drowsily quiet this Saturday morning. A few uniformed officers were standing off in the far
corner of the room he entered, quietly talking together. Along the side wall stood four squat blue robots,
silent and inert. The Writer paid careful attention to the equipment on the human police officers: pistols,
stun wands, gas and concussion grenades, bulletproof vests, protective helmets with builtin radios and
shatterproof sliding visors. Yes, he was in New York, all right.
The sergeant behind the desk was neither friendly nor gruff, just totally impersonal. He seemed to be
looking through the writer instead of at him.
"Excuse me," said the Writer.
The desk sergeant sat up on a raised platform, like a judge. He seemed to take in the Writer's presence at a
glance, his faded jeans and checkered polyester sports jacket. He made the barest perceptible motion of his
head. Otherwise he remained as stolid as a robot.
"I just got into town, and I'm looking for a place to stay. Can you recommend-"
"Traveler's Aid," snapped the desk sergeant. 'Scuse me?"
"Grand Central Concourse. Traveler's Aid."
The Writer scratched his head.
Leaning forward slightly and peering down at the writer, the desk sergeant said slowly and carefully, as if
speaking to a retarded child, "Go to Grand Central Station. That's at Fortysecond Street and Park Avenue.
Ask any officer there and he, she, or it will direct you to the Traveler's Aid desk. The people there will
help you to Md a hotel. Understand?"
The Writer nodded vaguely.
The desk sergeant started to repeat his instructions, this time in Spanish: "Vaya a Grand Central
Estacien."
The Writer backed away, muttering his thanks and wondering if the desk sergeant actually was a robot.
Outside, it was drizzling again. But that was nothing compared with what had happened to the Writer's
faithful old hatchback. Vandals had taken all four wheels, popped the hood and stolen the battery, the
distributor, and all four sparkplugs, jimmied the hatch and taken his only suitcase, ripped out the seats,
the radio, and the hand-stitched snakeskin steering wheel cover that his mother had made for him many
Christmases ago, and broken each and every one of the windows. In front of the police station.
The Writer gasped and gaped at the pillaged remains of his car. Then he noticed a piece of paper stuck in
the one remaining windshield wiper. A ticket for double parking.
He sank down onto the curbstone and cried.
TEN
For the fiftieth time that cheerless Saturday Carl picked up the telephone, then slammed it back down
again. He paced to the window of his sparse hotel room again and looked out at the rain. It spattered the
puddles growing on the rooftops across the street, it slanted down onto the cars and pedestrians in the
avenue far below. The city allowed private cars into Manhattan on weekends. They and the umbrellas
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r r
along the sidewalks made a shifting patchwork of colors against the gray stones, gray streets, and gray
skies of this somber Saturday.
So you slept with her, Carl said to himself. That doesn't mean anything. Not in this day and age. You're
both consenting adults.
But what did you consent to? the other half of his brain asked. A one-night stand? Or do you love her?
Would you want to marry her?
Not so fast! This is no time to talk about marriage. Don't even think about it. You're in no position to take
on responsibilities like that.
But you've got a tricky situation here. You're here in New York because she got her company to invite
you. If you go ahead with them on the electronic book project, you're going to have to work with her. How
are you going to handle that?
You can't mix business and romance, Carl insisted stubbornly. That's the one thing I learned out of all the
management courses I took. Office romances lead to disaster.
So it was just a one-night stand, eh?
It has to be.
Carl nodded, satisfied that he had thought the problem through and come to the correct conclusion. But [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]