"Eliot Fintushel - Uxo, Bomb Dog" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fintushel Eliot)

revolver, see? The way I got it notched and oiled, itтАЩs like loves-me-loves-me-not on a daisy, has to do
with evens & odds -I always knew how the thingтАЩd shake out. ThereтАЩs a sucker dies every minute, donтАЩt
they say? Last time, like always, the mark blew his head off on schedule, but hereтАЩs the goddam kicker.
HeтАЩd lied to me. The bastard had lied to me. I went through every pocket and lining and orifice, Blackie -
picture it if you have the stomach - and they wasnтАЩt a silver nor sawbuck. Blackie, boy, it puts a fellow in
doubt of human decency, I swear it does. Stiffed by a stiff. I liked to slide through them border checks
by means of a greased palm, didnтАЩt I, but here I was flat busted. It panicked me so, I dropped the
business. Lost my appetite for it. Now IтАЩm down to this. Pass the mustard?тАЭ

тАЬYou made that up.тАЭ

тАЬI didnтАЩt.тАЭ

тАЬYou donтАЩt fool me. YouтАЩre a sweetheart, Spot, arenтАЩt you?тАЭ

тАЬThe mustard.тАЭ

How had a grifter like Spot worked the perilous Frisco terrain? How had he held his own on those
famous squads of тАЬhalf-shattered de-miners who daily offered up their other half,тАЭ as the Chronicle put it?

тАЬWhat? You kidding?тАЭ says Spot when I put it to him. тАЬScammed the whole business, Blackie boy. I
never put in a day. It was all done with fake IDтАЩs and Muff the supervisorтАЩs craps chits - IтАЩd bought them
off a guy I know, and I knew I was buying me Muff.тАЭ

I didnтАЩt believe a word of it. Damn me but there was something to Spot. I liked him.

Me and Spot worked up a passable тАЬDead and AliveтАЭ routine. We knock shoulders and he falls down
dead - looks like. But when I try to drag off the corpse, an arm pops up. I push it down and try to drag
him off again, but then, say, his head curls up. So I push it down with my heel. I lift his legs to drag again,
but the other arm rises. Then a leg, maybe. Or he hinges up, legs and arms both, like a sprung bear trap,
and IтАЩm nearly squished pushing those appendages back down. It goes faster and faster, me frantic to get
rid of the corpse. You get the picture. Meantime heтАЩs winking to the audience, and theyтАЩre howling.

IтАЩm the stupid one.

One time Sonny says to me, тАЬThe bit you and Spot do, тАШDead and Alive,тАЩ you shouldnтАЩt call it that.тАЭ

тАЬWhy the hell not?тАЭ

тАЬYouтАЩre one or the other, arenтАЩt you? CanтАЩt be both.тАЭ

тАЬSure. ThatтАЩs the point. ItтАЩs a joke, Sonny.тАЭ

тАЬItтАЩs not funny. Take bugs.тАЭ

тАЬBugs?тАЭ

тАЬBugs that make you sick and kill you.тАЭ

тАЬWhat about them?тАЭ