"Block, Lawrence - collection - The Collected Mystery Stories - 07 - Sometimes They Bite - Funny You Should Ask (A Pair of Recycled Jeans)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Block Lawrence)

Funny You Should Ask.

Lawrence Block.

From "The Collected Mystery Stories".

On what a less original writer might deign to describe as a fateful day, young Robert Tillinghast approached the proprietor of a shop called Earth Forms. "Actually," he said, "I don't think I can buy anything today, but there's a question I'd like to ask you. It's been on my mind for the longest time. I was looking at those recycled jeans over by the far wall.Ф

"I'll be getting a hundred pair in Monday afternoon," the proprietor said.

"Is that right?Ф

"It certainly is.Ф

"A hundred pair," Robert marveled. "That's certainly quite a lot.Ф

"It's the minimum order.Ф

"Is that a fact? And they'll all be the same quality and condition as the ones you have on display over on the far wall?Ф

"Absolutely. Of course, I won't know what sizes I'll be getting.Ф

"I guess that's just a matter of chance.Ф

"It is. But they'll all be first-quality name brands, and they'll all be in good condition, broken in but not broken to bits. That's a sort of an expression I made up to describe them.Ф

"I like it," said Robert, not too sincerely. "You know, there's a question that's been nagging at my mind for the longest time. Now you get six dollars a pair for the recycled jeans, is that right?" It was. "And it probably wouldn't be out of line to guess that they cost you about half that amount?" The proprietor, after a moment's reflection, agreed that it wouldn't be far out of line to make that estimate.

"Well, that's the whole thing," Robert said. "You notice the jeans I'm wearing?Ф

The proprietor glanced at them. They were nothing remarkable, a pair of oft-washed Lee Riders that were just beginning to go thin at the knees. "Very nice," the man said. "I'd get six dollars for them without a whole lot of trouble.Ф

"But I wouldn't want to sell them.Ф

"And of course not. Why should you? They're just getting to the comfortable stage.Ф

"Exactly!" Robert grew intense, and his eyes bulged slightly. This was apt to happen when he grew intense, although he didn't know it, never having seen himself at such times. "Exactly," he repeated. "The recycled jeans you see in the shops, this shop and other shops, are just at the point where they're breaking in right. They're never really worn out. Unless you only put the better pairs on display?Ф

"No, they're all like that.Ф

"That's what everybody says." Robert had had much the same conversation before in the course of his travels. "All top quality, all in excellent condition, and all in the same stage of wear.Ф

"So?Ф

"So," Robert said in triumph, "who throws them out?Ф

"Oh.Ф

"The company that sells them. Where do they get them from?Ф