Authors: Carol Emshwiller
Mister Boots (19 page)
Our father would like her too much. She could make a lot of money and she'd look good on a poster. If he found out, I'll bet he wouldn't even care if she was a girl or not.
She looks kind of funny, but of course all new babies look funny. I know that much. She has Boots's big caramel-colored eyes and long head; fuzzy, black, baby foal hair. . . .
It'll be like I was. They won't dare send her to school for fear people will find out. With me it was that I wasn't a boy; with her it's different. They'll have to wait at least until she's old enough to keep herself a secret, so I'll teach her. She'll get to know every single thing I know.
It's good we have her. Jocelyn would feel too bad about Boots without Marilyn to care for.
Sometimes I think maybe I'd be even more of a triumph going onstage as a girl magician, wearing a scanty costume like Aunt Tilly used to wear. (If I ever get breasts.) My helper would be a man in a dress suit, top hat, and allâand a goatee. I'd make him curl up in boxes. I'd saw him in half and stick him full of swords. When I get to be a grown-up, I can do anything I want.
Right now I have to go to school and grow up a little more. Jocelyn says that's what Mister Boots would say, and he would.
But it seems like an awful long wait. People always tell me I'll change my mind when I get older. I hope I don't because being a magician is what I really, really, really want to do.
CAROL EMSHWILLER is the author of many acclaimed novels and story collections, including
Carmen Dog
,
The Start of the End of It All
(winner of the World Fantasy Award),
Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories
,
The Mount
(winner of the Philip K. Dick Award and a Nebula Award Finalist), and
I Live with You and You Don't Know It
. In the winter, she lives in New York City and teaches in the NYU Continuing Education program; in the summer, she lives in Bishop, California, between the Sierras and the Inyo White Mountains.
Carmen Dog
,
The Start of the End of It All
(winner of the World Fantasy Award),
Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories
,
The Mount
(winner of the Philip K. Dick Award and a Nebula Award Finalist), and
I Live with You and You Don't Know It
. In the winter, she lives in New York City and teaches in the NYU Continuing Education program; in the summer, she lives in Bishop, California, between the Sierras and the Inyo White Mountains.
Her Web site is
www.sfwa.org/members/emshwiller
www.sfwa.org/members/emshwiller
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