diamond age

94

"ouch, god damn it!" tad shouted. he looked down at the book in disbelief. "what the fuck is this?!" he wound up as if to kick it, then thought better of it, remembering he was bare foot. he picked it up and hefted it, looking straight at nell and getting a fix on her range and azimuth. "stupid little cunt, how many times do i have to tell you to keep your fucking shit cleaned up?!" then he turned away from her slightly, wrapping his arm around his body, and snapped the book straight at her head like a frisbee.
she stood watching it come tward her because it did not occur to her to get out fo the way, but at the last moment the covers flew open. the pages spread apart. they all bent like feathers as they hit her in the face, and it didn't hurt at all.
the book fell to the floor at her feet, open to an illustrated page.
the picture waws of a big dark man and a little girl in a cluttered room, the man angrily flinging a book at the little girl's head.
"once upon a time there was a little girl named cunt," the book said.
"my nanme is nell," nell said.
a tiny disturbance propagated through the grid of letters on the facing page.
"your name's mud if you dont fucking clean this shit up," tad said."but do it later, i want some fucking privacy for once."
nell's hands were full, and so she shoved the book down the hallway and into the kids' room...

isbn 0-553-8096-6