"Horace Gold - Inside Man & Other Science Fiction Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gold Horace)

INSIDE MAN
Lester Shay was married three months when he got his first Erector set. Thalia,
noting that he felt tired and rundown, ordered him to get a checkup. Too tired and
rundown to object, he went to see Dr. Peabody.
"Very surprising" the physician said after an embarrassingly thorough examination.
"Married three months, beautiful, affectionate bride тАУ but you get plenty of sleep,
outdoors a lot, a moderate amount of exercise."
"I do all my own marketing," said Les, who owned a wholesale grocery business. "I
walk every chance I get, which is considerable. Marketing is all outdoors, you know.
And I have to get to sleep early, because if I don't get up early, my competitorsтАУ"
"Exactly. And I know it's not overwork. I'm overworked myself, but I'm in tiptop
condition."
"How do you manage it?" asked Les, interested in a tired, rundown way.
"A hobby," said Dr. Peabody.
"Gardening? Raising tropical fish? Golf?"
"The last thing you'd expect," Dr. Peabody said, leaning forward excitedly. "I know
a lot of dentists. They give me old fillings and I've got this little smelter, see, and I
break down the amalgam into silver and mercury, then sell the stuff back to the
dentists. Darn near pays for itself! And fun? You ought to come visit my basement
sometime!"
Shambling home, Les wondered what he could take up as a hobby. Nightclubs and
theaters wouldn't do. They let out too late. Besides, they weren't a hobby. Raising
things was too close to his actual work; it would make him think about produce and
canned goods. He did enough outdoor walking to eliminate sports.
That was when he saw the Erector set in the store window.
He stopped and studied it, looking more wistful now than tired or rundown. He had
always wanted an Erector set, but his parents, believers in as the twig is bent so
grows the tree, had refused to buy him one. They didn't, they explained, want their
son to become a mechanic. Not, mind you, they'd added, that there was anything
wrong with mechanics. But he was worthy of great things. They had also been
disappointed when he went into the wholesale grocery line, were more pleased now
because he was doing well in it, but that wasn't important. He still wanted an Erector
set.
When he got home, Thalia looked expectantly at the large, heavy box. He had
bought the biggest and most expensive set, of course.
"Oh, something for the house?" she asked, obviously hoping it wasn't.
"Doctor said I needed a hobby or something," he explained uncomfortably.
"Wonderful!" she exclaimed. "We can do it together!"
"You mean you like working on Erector sets, too?" he cried.
"Oh," she said. "Well, that's really a тАУ well, a man's hobby."
She gave him the room that would some day be a nursery and he built a parachute
jump, a stake truck, a windmill and a ski tow. The spring came back to his walk and
the roses to his cheeks.
But less than a week later, lying in bed with his bride in his arms, he could sense the
old tired, rundown feeling creep up on him.
"What's the matter, darling?" Thalia asked, disconcerted. "Is it the onions I had for
dinner?"
"Oh, no, sweetheart!" he tried to answer hastily, only it came out a slow sigh. "It's
the Erector set."
"The тАУ Erector set? Oh! The Erector set. Well, if it's broken, darling, you can always