"Harlan Ellison - Paladin of the Lost Hour" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ellison Harlan)

"Nuts! Looney! That guy would've torn off your head! What the hell's wrong withyou, old man? Are you
out of your boots?"

"I'm not crazy. I'm responsible."

"Responsible!?! Responsible, fer chrissakes? For what? For all the buttsevery yotz throws into the
street?"


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 Harlan Ellison - Paladin of the Lost Hour


The old man nodded. "For butts, and trash, and pollution, and toxic waste dumpingin the dead of night;
for bushes, and cactus, and the baobab tree; for pippin apples andeven lima beans, which I despise. You
show me someone who'll eat lima beans without beingat gunpoint, I'll show you a pervert!"

Billy was screaming. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm also responsible for dogs and cats and guppies and cockroaches and thePresident of the United
States and Jonas Salk and your mother and the entire chorus lineat the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Also
their choreographer."

"Who do you think you are? God?"

"Don't be sacrilegious. I'm too old to wash your mouth out with laundry soap. Ofcourse I'm not God. I'm
just an old man. But I'm responsible."

Gaspar started to walk away, toward the corner and the avenue and a resumption of theirroute. Billy
stood where the old man's words had pinned him.

"Come on, young fella," Gaspar said, walking backward to speak to him,"we'll miss the beginning of the
movie. I hate that."

####

Billy had finished eating, and they were sitting in the dimness of the apartment, onlythe lamp in the
corner lit. The old man had gone to the County Art Museum and had boughtinexpensive prints -- Max
Ernst, Gerome, Richard Dadd, a subtle Feininger -- which he hadmounted in Insta-Frames, They sat in
silence for a time, relaxing; then murmuringtrivialities in a pleasant undertone.

Finally, Gaspar said, "I've been thinking a lot about my dying. I like what WoodyAllen said."

Billy slid to a more comfortable position in the lounger. "What was that?"

"He said: I don't mind dying, I just don't want to be there when it happens."

Billy snickered.

"I feel something like that, Billy. I'm not afraid to go, but I don't want toleave Minna entirely. The times I