"EB - Mike Resnick + Martin H. Greenberg - Christmas GhostsUC - Compilation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Greenberg Martin H)

Lyle hung his head. "I wish they'd never given me the gun," he whispered, with what he hoped was the proper amount of regret.

"No wishes," Marley sighed, "that's another story. But 1*11 see what I can do."

The tableau in the living room suddenly went soft focus and then his father was handing the younger Lyle a different box, one that was shorter and thicker and somewhat heavier.

The boy tore the paper off it and stared in wonder and pride at the A. C. Gilbert chemistry set. It was the exact present he'd been hoping for....

"Okay, that should do it," Lyle yawned. "Drop me off at my apartment, Marley." His future would be different now, he was off the hookЧhis love affair with guns had never happened. He could hardly wait to be out and about. A six-course meal at Gordon's, the little cocktail waitress he'd been datingЧ

There was a blur and a brief sensation of cold. It took him one long moment to realize where he was, though the surroundings were certainly familiar enough. The concrete walls, the hard bunk, the slight noises of the other prisoners, the fog in the hallway....

"You lied to me!" Lyle shouted and grabbed for the somber Marley. His hands sh'pped easily through the mist and fog and he sank back on his bunk, swearing. "What the hell went wrong "

Marley shrugged.

"I said it was your last chance to repent, Lyle. Repentance is good, people tike repentance, especially Him."

"I thought if I never got the gun ..."

Marley shook his head.

"You didn't shoot anybody, Lyle. Not this timeЧit's not your M.O. any more. You were right about that."

"So why the hell am I back here?" Lyle snapped.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, NO. 30267

35

Marley casually rearranged his sheet of fog where Lyle's hands had momentarily disturbed it.

"For poisoning your late wife. Plus quite a few others along the way." He looked sympathetic. "It probably all started with the chemistry set."

Damn, Lyle thought.

"You have to repent," Marley repeated, trying to look helpful. "And mean it."

Lyle felt surly.

"What if I don't?"

Marley said nothing, but the hands of the clock on the corridor wall suddenly started to spin around. There was a flash of darkness and Lyle was standing beside himself, watching along with Marley as the priest heard his Confession.

"This is your last chance to confess your sins, my son. What is punished in this world may be forgiven in the next."

The Lyle on the bunk snarled and the priest murmured quietly, then turned as the guard unlocked the cell door. Two more guards were waiting for Lyle in the corridor.

Lyle shivered as he watched himself stumble out into the corridor. The guards held him up all the way to the small execution room, dragging him the last few feet. His other self whimpered as they strapped him hi the chair and snapped the buckles around his wrists and tightened the electrodes to his ankle and head.