"Davis, Jerry - Elko the Potter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Davis Jerry)

"How far have you ever tried to calculate the value of p ?"
"Were you inspired by the moon?"
"Man, what I would have given to be your patent attorney."
"When inventing the wheel, how many different shapes did you
go through before deciding on a circle?"
In the middle of this, a very large, imposing man made his
way over and stared at him with cold blue eyes. The man had an
impressive mane of long white hair, and a deep, grumbling voice
that seemed loud even when he was whispering. "You didn't really
invent the wheel, did you?" he said. "You got the idea from
somewhere else."
The room seemed to be utterly quiet just after the man asked
this, and Elko gazed across the room to see Raymond. Raymond
looked like he was choking on an ice cube or something. Elko knew
instinctively that a lot was riding on this, and he shrugged and
said, "My table gave me the idea. It fell over and rolled around
the room."
The white-haired man seemed a bit deflated by this answer,
but across the room Raymond looked like he could breathe again.
Elko guessed that he'd said the right thing. The white-haired man,
who's name he found out later was Professor Gibson, muttered
something about ideas having to come from "somewhere" but he
didn't argue the point.
A week later Elko ran across Raymond at Technica, and Raymond
excused himself from a crowd of professors and went to go speak to
him. "How're your classes coming along, Elko? Any problems with
the students?"
"Oh, no. The students are very bright and respectful." It was
true enough, as Elko was thrilled with the electric pottery wheel
and the other new developments such as the plastic-based clays. He
created bowls, vases and urns so fluid and beautiful they awed the
students.
"That's good," Raymond said. "I'm glad to hear it. If any of
the little bastards give you any trouble let me know --- he'll be
out of here so fast that it'll take thirty seconds for his screams
of anguish to catch up to him."
"Well."
"What?"
"Its that, um . . . "
"Someone is giving you a problem?"
"Oh, no. It's me. Something has been bothering me for the
last few days, and I think it would be best if I told you about
it."
"Well, what? Tell me about it. I don't care what it is, I'll
have it solved for you before the day's finished. What?"
"I didn't invent the wheel."
Raymond's look startled Elko. It was as if Raymond's eyes had
almost popped out of their sockets. Then he quickly looked back
and forth down the long, wide hall to see if anyone had been near
enough to hear. "Let's not discuss this here," Raymond said in a