"FWLS12" - читать интересную книгу автора (A Future We'd Like to See)

A Future We'd Like to See 1.12 - Tales of the Rainy City
Act II
By Twoflower (Copyright 1993)

"The world is dull," I wrote, in my pocket diary. "Anything
that can liven it up is good. These suits, these businessmen,
need to liven up. Loosen up. Slack. Unconform. Everyone is an
individual, strive to bring that out. Fantasy is good. A
healthy imagination is good. Work is not."

It was sort of a mantra of mine. I have a lot of profound
thoughts, and write them all down in my diary, but I always take
time every month to re-copy this one entry in there so I don't
forget it. Maybe some day I'd organize my diary a little,
publish it, and lead a new movement of slackness and general fun
throughout the universe.

Benson gave up the game after yesterday, really, which is
primo for him. I can't stand dangerous technology, it's really
just too dangerous to mess around with. VOSNet. VOSNet's cool,
'cuz it's unreal, and unreal means more slack. The slacker the
better. I ran off from my first job as a trader with my dad,
'cuz haggling is certainly not slack. I worked for awhile at
Macroware (the Fathersystem) in their entertainment division, but
soon ditched the job as I found myself worrying about things like
sensible shoes and sucking up for a promotion. Eroki didn't
mind; Benson did, but only to a certain extent. Macroware
wouldn't let him add all the gore or realism he wanted in his
games, so he bugged out with us.

I was sitting in the Peasluvdope the next night after Benson
got the game, pocket diary in hand, attempting to puzzle out a
new poem I was writing. I'm scheduled to do a reading once a
week or so at the Buggl 'n Whack, a Yttian coffee house across
the road, or I won't be able to pay our bills. Our meaning Eroki
and me. Eroki's my main squeeze, if you wanna be blunt about it;
I prefer the term twin souls intertwined into one symbiotic
entity. We think along the same lines, dress alike 'cuz I'm she
buys clothing for both of us, and such. Codependency can be
downright fun when you work hard enough at it.

Anyway, she was off dancing and Benson was on his laptop,
pumping out more code for another of his great games. Benson is
by far one of the coolest guys I know; if only he'd slack a
little. Life != work, and although Benson does his fair share of
the party thing, he also does a lot of the not-party thing.

The poem was gonna be read in fifteen minutes, and I was on
line three. If I read a three-line lousy piece of nonslack
garbage, I'd have that tranquilizer dart in my arm faster than