Reedle Откройте в мобильном приложении
Понятно
Понятно
Для того чтобы воспользоваться закладками, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Отмена
Для того чтобы воспользоваться озвучкой предложений, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Отмена
Озвучка предложений доступна при наличии PRO-доступа
Купить PRO-доступ
Отмена
All
those
scraggy-looking
Santa
Clauses
were
standing
on
corners
ringing
those
bells
,
and
the
Salvation
Army
girls
,
the
ones
that
do
n't
wear
any
lipstick
or
anything
,
were
tinging
bells
too
.
I
sort
of
kept
looking
around
for
those
two
nuns
I
'd
met
at
breakfast
the
day
before
,
but
I
did
n't
see
them
.
I
knew
I
would
n't
,
because
they
'd
told
me
they
'd
come
to
New
York
to
be
schoolteachers
,
but
I
kept
looking
for
them
anyway
.
Anyway
,
it
was
pretty
Christmasy
all
of
a
sudden
.
A
million
little
kids
were
downtown
with
their
mothers
,
getting
on
and
off
buses
and
coming
in
and
out
of
stores
.
I
wished
old
Phoebe
was
around
.
She
's
not
little
enough
any
more
to
go
stark
staring
mad
in
the
toy
department
,
but
she
enjoys
horsing
around
and
looking
at
the
people
.
The
Christmas
before
last
I
took
her
downtown
shopping
with
me
.
We
had
a
helluva
time
.
I
think
it
was
in
Bloomingdale
's
.
We
went
in
the
shoe
department
and
we
pretended
she
--
old
Phoebe
--
wanted
to
get
a
pair
of
those
very
high
storm
shoes
,
the
kind
that
have
about
a
million
holes
to
lace
up
.
We
had
the
poor
salesman
guy
going
crazy
.
Old
Phoebe
tried
on
about
twenty
pairs
,
and
each
time
the
poor
guy
had
to
lace
one
shoe
all
the
way
up
.
It
was
a
dirty
trick
,
but
it
killed
old
Phoebe
.
We
finally
bought
a
pair
of
moccasins
and
charged
them
.
The
salesman
was
very
nice
about
it
.
I
think
he
knew
we
were
horsing
around
,
because
old
Phoebe
always
starts
giggling
.
Anyway
,
I
kept
walking
and
walking
up
Fifth
Avenue
,
without
any
tie
on
or
anything
.
Then
all
of
a
sudden
,
something
very
spooky
started
happening
.
Every
time
I
came
to
the
end
of
a
block
and
stepped
off
the
goddam
curb
,
I
had
this
feeling
that
I
'd
never
get
to
the
other
side
of
the
street
.
I
thought
I
'd
just
go
down
,
down
,
down
,
and
nobody
'd
ever
see
me
again
.
Boy
,
did
it
scare
me
.
You
ca
n't
imagine
.
I
started
sweating
like
a
bastard
--
my
whole
shirt
and
underwear
and
everything
.
Then
I
started
doing
something
else
.
Every
time
I
'd
get
to
the
end
of
a
block
I
'd
make
believe
I
was
talking
to
my
brother
Allie
.
I
'd
say
to
him
,
"
Allie
,
do
n't
let
me
disappear
.
Allie
,
do
n't
let
me
disappear
.
Allie
,
do
n't
let
me
disappear
.
Please
,
Allie
.
"
And
then
when
I
'd
reach
the
other
side
of
the
street
without
disappearing
,
I
'd
thank
him
.
Then
it
would
start
all
over
again
as
soon
as
I
got
to
the
next
corner
.
But
I
kept
going
and
all
.
I
was
sort
of
afraid
to
stop
,
I
think
--
I
do
n't
remember
,
to
tell
you
the
truth
.
I
know
I
did
n't
stop
till
I
was
way
up
in
the
Sixties
,
past
the
zoo
and
all
.
Then
I
sat
down
on
this
bench
.
I
could
hardly
get
my
breath
,
and
I
was
still
sweating
like
a
bastard
.
I
sat
there
,
I
guess
,
for
about
an
hour
.
Finally
,
what
I
decided
I
'd
do
,
I
decided
I
'd
go
away
.
I
decided
I
'd
never
go
home
again
and
I
'd
never
go
away
to
another
school
again
.
I
decided
I
'd
just
see
old
Phoebe
and
sort
of
say
good-by
to
her
and
all
,
and
give
her
back
her
Christmas
dough
,
and
then
I
'd
start
hitchhiking
my
way
out
West
.
What
I
'd
do
,
I
figured
,
I
'd
go
down
to
the
Holland
Tunnel
and
bum
a
ride
,
and
then
I
'd
bum
another
one
,
and
another
one
,
and
another
one
,
and
in
a
few
days
I
'd
be
somewhere
out
West
where
it
was
very
pretty
and
sunny
and
where
nobody
'd
know
me
and
I
'd
get
a
job
.
I
figured
I
could
get
a
job
at
a
filling
station
somewhere
,
putting
gas
and
oil
in
people
's
cars
.
I
did
n't
care
what
kind
of
job
it
was
,
though
.
Just
so
people
did
n't
know
me
and
I
did
n't
know
anybody
.
I
thought
what
I
'd
do
was
,
I
'd
pretend
I
was
one
of
those
deaf-mutes
.
That
way
I
would
n't
have
to
have
any
goddam
stupid
useless
conversations
with
anybody
.
If
anybody
wanted
to
tell
me
something
,
they
'd
have
to
write
it
on
a
piece
of
paper
and
shove
it
over
to
me
.
They
'd
get
bored
as
hell
doing
that
after
a
while
,
and
then
I
'd
be
through
with
having
conversations
for
the
rest
of
my
life
.
Everybody
'd
think
I
was
just
a
poor
deaf-mute
bastard
and
they
'd
leave
me
alone
.
Отключить рекламу
They
'd
let
me
put
gas
and
oil
in
their
stupid
cars
,
and
they
'd
pay
me
a
salary
and
all
for
it
,
and
I
'd
build
me
a
little
cabin
somewhere
with
the
dough
I
made
and
live
there
for
the
rest
of
my
life
.
I
'd
build
it
right
near
the
woods
,
but
not
right
in
them
,
because
I
'd
want
it
to
be
sunny
as
hell
all
the
time
.
I
'd
cook
all
my
own
food
,
and
later
on
,
if
I
wanted
to
get
married
or
something
,
I
'd
meet
this
beautiful
girl
that
was
also
a
deaf-mute
and
we
'd
get
married
.
She
'd
come
and
live
in
my
cabin
with
me
,
and
if
she
wanted
to
say
anything
to
me
,
she
'd
have
to
write
it
on
a
goddam
piece
of
paper
,
like
everybody
else
.
If
we
had
any
children
,
we
'd
hide
them
somewhere
.
We
could
buy
them
a
lot
of
books
and
teach
them
how
to
read
and
write
by
ourselves
.
I
got
excited
as
hell
thinking
about
it
.
I
really
did
.
I
knew
the
part
about
pretending
I
was
a
deaf-mute
was
crazy
,
but
I
liked
thinking
about
it
anyway
.
But
I
really
decided
to
go
out
West
and
all
.
All
I
wanted
to
do
first
was
say
good-by
to
old
Phoebe
.
So
all
of
a
sudden
,
I
ran
like
a
madman
across
the
street
--
I
damn
near
got
killed
doing
it
,
if
you
want
to
know
the
truth
--
and
went
in
this
stationery
store
and
bought
a
pad
and
pencil
.
I
figured
I
'd
write
her
a
note
telling
her
where
to
meet
me
so
I
could
say
good-by
to
her
and
give
her
back
her
Christmas
dough
,
and
then
I
'd
take
the
note
up
to
her
school
and
get
somebody
in
the
principal
's
office
to
give
it
to
her
.
But
I
just
put
the
pad
and
pencil
in
my
pocket
and
started
walking
fast
as
hell
up
to
her
school
--
I
was
too
excited
to
write
the
note
right
in
the
stationery
store
.
I
walked
fast
because
I
wanted
her
to
get
the
note
before
she
went
home
for
lunch
,
and
I
did
n't
have
any
too
much
time
.
I
knew
where
her
school
was
,
naturally
,
because
I
went
there
myself
when
I
was
a
kid
.
When
I
got
there
,
it
felt
funny
.
I
was
n't
sure
I
'd
remember
what
it
was
like
inside
,
but
I
did
.
It
was
exactly
the
same
as
it
was
when
I
went
there
.
They
had
that
same
big
yard
inside
,
that
was
always
sort
of
dark
,
with
those
cages
around
the
light
bulbs
so
they
would
n't
break
if
they
got
hit
with
a
ball
.
They
had
those
same
white
circles
painted
all
over
the
floor
,
for
games
and
stuff
.
And
those
same
old
basketball
rings
without
any
nets
--
just
the
backboards
and
the
rings
.
Отключить рекламу
Nobody
was
around
at
all
,
probably
because
it
was
n't
recess
period
,
and
it
was
n't
lunchtime
yet
.
All
I
saw
was
one
little
kid
,
a
colored
kid
,
on
his
way
to
the
bathroom
.
He
had
one
of
those
wooden
passes
sticking
out
of
his
hip
pocket
,
the
same
way
we
used
to
have
,
to
show
he
had
permission
and
all
to
go
to
the
bathroom
.
I
was
still
sweating
,
but
not
so
bad
any
more
.
I
went
over
to
the
stairs
and
sat
down
on
the
first
step
and
took
out
the
pad
and
pencil
I
'd
bought
.
The
stairs
had
the
same
smell
they
used
to
have
when
I
went
there
.
Like
somebody
'd
just
taken
a
leak
on
them
.
School
stairs
always
smell
like
that
.
Anyway
,
I
sat
there
and
wrote
this
note
:
DEAR
PHOEBE
,