The Choice Era. Part 1. Nata Kay

be interested in it,» snapped Harry.

      He gently put his hand on Mona’s arm. Her following sigh expressed gratitude and at the same time emphasized the fact that Mona started to get tired of what was going on. Perhaps Bob also understood that. According to the majority point of view, he honored his friendship and wouldn’t finally upset his friend’s wife by his love for oddities and craziness.

      «How would you know? You have never tried to read them…» Bob noted it and turned to a new, more familiar and more approved topic.

      The rest of the evening went in pleasant calm conversation squared with appropriate jokes. Mona no longer felt irritation or stress. After the subject was changed, she was back to herself, so her pretty laughter could be heard in this most ordinary city apartment.

      The next day Harry forgot about the events of the previous evening and carelessly went to work. The day was going to be warm and pleasant.

      On the way to his office Harry popped in a supermarket to buy cigarettes. When he came out, he stopped to let go a group of children, who were probably heading to a tour. Harry smiled.

      Children were walking in a column, two by two. Each child was dressed in a warm, cozy sweater of a certain cut. Harry knew that the concept of form in schools was quite particular, but still it provided children and parents with a room for creativity. For instance, everyone could choose the individual colors of a sweater, so the group passing by Nelson was playing with all the possible and impossible colors of a rainbow.

      It is useless and senseless to resist this statement that kids always look cute. Public opinion clearly stated the message that children are one of the happy moments in anyone’s life. After he knew about his future fatherhood, Harry supported this statement even more eagerly than ever.

      And the children kept walking. They barely spoke. Some couples were exchanging short phrases, showing each other something remarkable on the street, but the most part of this colorful trip was silent. There were smiles playing on the children’s faces. The weather was wonderful, and perhaps they were fascinated by it.

      Behind all this sweet brightness Harry, just as other passers-by, didn’t really notice the similarity between children’s hairstyles and faces, though their skin colors were different. It wasn’t even necessary to pay attention to some general customs. For example, when parents were picking up their children from school, they easily distinguished the required children thanks to the intense green sweater and cute beige boots instead of which the other kids had chosen black boots or even sneakers.

      One day Harry would buy a uniform for his child and he couldn’t wait for the moment he found out his kid’s favorite colors.

      Meanwhile, Harry watched the last couple of children in the column, smiled, checked the cigarettes pack he bought and continued on his way to work, where a big surprise was already waiting for him.

      Bob didn’t cheat him.

      Harry entered the office and walked to his workplace in a good mood dreaming about something. However, he stopped suddenly on the halfway and stared at the table, or rather at what was on it.

      There was a stack of books. The real ones. Tactile. Paper. The books differed from each other in color, size and volume, but they still seemed as a whole.

      Book covers were obsolete and faded. On the first try it wasn’t so easy to read some inscriptions on the spines. But Harry was showing no interest in reading titles and authors’ names now. Moreover, he wasn’t going to do it at all.

      Bob, who observed Harry from his seat, didn’t cover up his pleasure. He curled his lips. He was obviously waiting for Harry’s reaction.

      But there was no response. At least a strong one. Harry let himself only to be surprised for a moment, rather defiantly. His eyes rounded slightly, but in just a second Harry returned to his natural face. He didn’t want to give Bob more reasons for malice and further provocations.

      What Harry really tried to avoid was to catch some dirty looks from his colleagues. He knew how his colleagues would react. Books? On Harry’s desk? What does he think he is doing? He definitely shouldn’t be engaged in this kind of silliness, because the most interesting and useful information can be downloaded and read in electronic form, so all these anachronisms belong to the museum as the first phone models, portraits of seventeenth century generals, Celtic coins and mammoth bones.

      Harry forced himself to get off the point at which he had frozen. In a few seconds he was at his desk.

      There were six people in the room and most of the time Harry was glad to see his colleagues. After several working hours it was pleasant to take a break, to have a word with someone, to exchange news and ideas, to joke, to take the pressure off. But now Harry feared that communication between men and women he was working with would do no good.

      Fortunately for Harry, the rest of his colleagues hadn’t yet showed up in the office. It was Harry who usually came to the office first. As for Bob, he was never punctual. There was no doubt that Bob’s early arrival at work was deliberate. Bob was ready for terrible sacrifices, even to get up early for such an important case as a joke on his friend.

      «Do you seriously think I’m going to read this?» Harry stressed the word «this». He didn’t want to say the word «books». His mind hardly approved this letter combination.

      After turning on the screen Harry started tapping on the mouse to speed up the system. It didn’t work, but Harry was faithful to many rituals.

      Nelson didn’t look in the Bob’s direction.

      «Open at least one,» said Bob. He didn’t give up. «Not necessarily now. You may do it later, when you are alone, and now you may keep showing your indifference. I don’t mind.»

      «What would I do without your permission…» Harry sat down in a chair, opened a drawer and immediately closed it. He wanted to hide the books at first, but then he changed his mind. He decided to let the others see them right away. If the books were hidden, Bob wouldn’t rest and come up with something that Harry would later be very ashamed with.

      Harry imagined Bob approaching his desk in the middle of the working day to ask for a stapler, for example. And then Bob could open the drawer and take out one of the volumes with his usual artistry. No… Harry must prevent such performance.

      Colleagues were entering the room one by one. As Harry had expected, all of them casted their eyes to the books. One colleague showed bewilderment, another expressed mocking, the third barely concealed some contempt, unlike the fourth who failed to hide it at all. He frowned with a sneer of disgust.

      «Please, blame Bob for all this disgrace,» Harry waited until everyone gathered. He said it staring at the screen. It was easier for him. «This month he subjected me to provocations. I hope next time he will find another victim.»

      «So that’s that,» Tim, sitting at the next table, grinned. It was he who couldn’t hide his contempt when he entered the room. «Since that’s all for Bob, there’s nothing to worry about. It took a long time for us to get used to his quirks, but I wouldn’t like to lose you, Harry.»

      «Oh no…» Bob tried to make a sad grimace, though he could hardly hold his smile. «I thought you liked me.»

      «Who said we don’t like you?» Tim played along for him. «Our life would be gray and boring without you. We appreciate you, love you and don’t want to lose you, but two Bobs in one office are too much. By the way, are you sure you want any competition in matters of unpredictability?»

      «You’re damn right,» Bob laughed. «I don’t want competitions! I want to be the one, the only.»

      The others also smiled, and Harry was simply happy that this awkward situation was resolved painlessly for him. He did everything possible, any other actions could lead to trouble. Harry silently praised himself for choosing the most appropriate behavior pattern.

      A working