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

Les sat up abruptly with his back against the headboard, one stiff forefinger stabbing
repeatedly at the mattress. "Not digest. Regurgitate."
"It made sense to me, darling."
"What? That I wanted to kill my father for not buying me an Erector set?"
"Well, didn't you?"
"Of course not! And why not my mother, too? She had just as much to do with me
not getting it as he did."
"The Oedipal situation."
"And if I say she loused me up more than Dad ever did, you'll agree with Hyde that
I'm displacing or something. Oh, no. You're not catching me in that no-exit trap.
Besides, Dad bought me a bike right afterward and I had a hell of a lot more fun with
it than I'd have gotten out of an Erector set. Mom had plenty to say about the danger
of riding a bike in the city, but he trusted my judgment and bought one just the
same."
"Infantilizing you, darling," she said gently, "instead of helping you learn to accept
inevitable frustrations."
"Who was frustrated?" he shouted. "I loved that bike! And not only that, I didn't
even think once of an Erector set till Dr. Peabody suggested I take up a hobby!" He
waited. "Go ahead, say it тАУ I repressed the whole thing, didn't I?"
"That's what Dr. Hyde said, darling."
"All right, smart guy, see what you make of this. I told him the truth, every bit of it,
and he says hallucinations. So I say oh, yeah, what about the water cooler over in the
corner and he says what about the water cooler. And I tell him there's a tiny leak in
the refrigerating coil and he takes a look, only the crack is too small to see, but in a
month or two they'll have to seal it up and put in more refrigerant, you wait and see if
they don't."
"And in the meantime?" she asked. "We can't have you go around in this nervous
state."
"I know," he said miserably. "The rheostat on the electric mixer is calibrated wrong,
the oil burner is feeding too fast, the bulb in the hall is about ready to blow, we got a
lemon of a pre-amp in the hi-fi, the turntable is almost a full rpm too slow, and I bet
there's going to be a pip of a smashup on the highway тАУ I don't like the way the
traffic light feels."
"Feels?"
"Yes," he said flatly. "Feels."
"Darling?" she started again.
"You know you're only personalizing these things the way you did when you were
so awfully disappointed about the Erector set."
"Sure, sure."
"It's just a matter of accepting that emotionally."
"I'm working on it."
"And you don't need your mother any more. You have me."
He rolled out of bed. "I never thought of that," he said, and began unbuttoning his
pajama top.
"Darling, what have you got in mind?" she asked, wide-eyed.
"Taking a walk to clear my head. You and Hyde have all the explanations. Without
the two of you to confuse me, maybe I can find the answers."
Chilled and tired, Les wandered into Mike's All Nite Garage. Mike poked his head
out from under a car on the grease pit and asked, "Do something for you, Mr.
Shay?"