"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 318 - The Television Murders" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

Mannix: "Here's a short one, my boy!"
Mannix has offered a drink to Homer. Homer slaps it out of his hand.
Homer: "I'll buy the drinks I drink... I mean... I'll drink the drinks I
buy... I mean..."
Mannix: "Why don't you go over in the corner and sulk. This is supposed
to
be a party!"
Mrs. Mannix: "Well, why don't you act more as if it were, darling?"
Mannix: "Come over here, Maria!"
Maria walks over to the low cocktail table with her husband. In
background
they talk angrily. In foreground, Vic smiles brightly at Homer and Bob.
Vic: "What a typical Noel Coward situation!"
Homer: "What a stinking situation!"
Vic: "Don t get so excited Homer, breathe deeply!"
Homer: "I'll breathe how I want to breathe; and I'd like to stop Mannix's
breathing!"
Vic gestures behind Homer's back from Mannix to Letty.
Vic: "You know!"
 Bob: "So it's like that!"
Mannix (His voice comes up loudly): "I'd see you dead first!"
Mrs. Mannix: "Aren't you cutting off your nose to spite your face?"
She flounces away from her husband. She joins Vic and looks at him
adoringly.
Mrs. Mannix: "I can't make him see reason."
Vic: "No divorce?"
Mrs. Mannix: "If he keeps on seeing that little blond... I'll get the
divorce without his help!"
Letty: "Don't you like my hair, Maria?"
Maria: "Not particularly, dear... the black roots show too clearly!"
Mannix: "Maria! I won't have you talk that way to Letty!"
Mrs. Mannix: "That's cute... that'll sound pretty in court! A wife can't
talk about her husband's girl friend!"
Mannix (Placatingly): "Why don't we all have a drink and relax? Bob, what
have you been doing lately?"
Bob: "Nothing too much, things have been pretty dull."
Mrs. Mannix: "Not like they are here?"
Mannix: "Maria, please! Haven't we washed enough dirty linen in public?"
Vic: "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going out on the terrace for a
breath of air."
Letty: "Now that's a good idea!"
Show them milling around toward the door. Mannix sits down in front of
the
cocktail table in front of the fireplace.
Bob: "Coming?"
Mannix: "I must be getting older, my blood's getting thin. I'm cold
enough."
Letty: "We'd better slip our coats on..."
The room empties out. Mannix is left alone. He rubs his hands over his
forehead tiredly. He stares into the fire. It is completely quiet. Fifteen