"Brooks, Terry - Landover 01 - Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brooks Terry)

he read the item on Landover. He shook his head. No such
place could possibly exist. The promo was a tease, a hypeЧ
what the car business called puffing. The truth was masked
in the rhetoric. He chewed gingerly at the inside of his lip.
Still, there wasn't all that much rhetoric being used to pro-
mote the item. And Rosen's was a highly respected depart-
ment store; they were not likely to offer anything that they
could not deliver, should a buyer appear.

He grinned. What was he thinking? What buyer? Who in
his right mind would even consider . . . ? But of course he

8 MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE - SOLD!

was questioning himself now. He was the one considering.
He had been standing there, drinking his drink and thinking
about how he didn't belong; and when he had picked up the
Wishbook, the item on Landover had caught his attention
right away. He was the one who felt himself the outsider in
his own world, who had always felt himself the outsider,
who was seeking always a way to escape what he was.
And now here was his chance.

His grin broadened. This was crazy! He was actually con-
templating doing something that no sane man would even
think twice about!

The scotch was working its way to his head now, and he
got up again to walk it off. He looked at his watch, thinking
of Miles, and suddenly he didn't want to go to that bar meet-
ing. He didn't want to go anywhere.
He walked to the phone and dialed his friend.
"Bennett," the familiar voice answered.
"Miles, I've decided not to go tonight. Hope you don't
mind."

There was a pause. "Doc, is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me." Miles loved to call him Doc, ever since
the early days when they went up against Wells-Fargo on
that corporate buy-out. Doc Holiday, courtroom gunfighter.
It drove Ben nuts. "Look, you go on without me."

"You're going." Miles was unflappable. "You said you
were going and you're going. You promised."

"So I take it back. Lawyers do it all the timeЧyou read
the papers."

"Ben, you need to get out. You need to see something of
the world besides your office and your apartmentЧhowever