Rat Bohemia (23 page)

“How do I do it?” Rita asked, desperate. “How do I get a good job?”

“Mr. Haas says the future is in computers. Computers are the jobs of the future.”

Rita was desperate. There were only a few minutes left. She had to get everything she needed for her entire life out of these few minutes. It was the only love she was ever going to have. Love being informative attention.

“How do I find out about computers?” she asked breathlessly.

The next day a quiet envelope was slipped underneath her front door. Course listings and the number for financial aid. When Rita got her masters in computer graphics she sent Mrs. Haas a card at her retirement community in Florida. Same for her wedding to David last spring.

“That was superb,” Eddie said, balling up his napkin and pushing away the plate, placing his loaded knife haphazardly by its side. There was something in his knife that reminded Rita of her life. That reminded Rita of that night. That terrible night. When she
came so close to getting what she needed, what every child deserves. Someone to be on her side. Someone to defend her. That night when she lost everything, that night that was still on her hands.

RAT BOHEMIA

Copyright © 1995 by Sarah Schulman

Introduction copyright © 2008 by Sarah Schulman

First Arsenal Pulp Press edition: 2008

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical—without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may use brief excerpts in a review, or in the case of photocopying in Canada, a license from Access Copyright.

 

ARSENAL PULP PRESS

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Vancouver, BC

Canada V6B 1B8
arsenalpulp.com

 

 

Printed and bound in Canada

 

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to persons either living or deceased is purely coincidental.

 

 

 

 

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication:

 

Schulman, Sarah, 1958-Rat bohemia / Sarah Schulman.

 

Originally publ.: New York : Dutton, 1995.

 

eISBN : 978-1-551-52271-5

I. Title.

PS3569.C5393R'.54 C2008-901629-7