"Harry Harrison - SSR 06 - A Stainless Steel Rat is Born" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

Of course there was nothing I could buy, having no capital, so I resorted to not paying at all
for the basic product. All kids shoplift. They go through the phase and usually get it beaten out
of them when they are detected. I saw the unhappy and tear-stained results of failure and decided
to do a market survey as well as a time and motion study before I entered on a career of very
petty crime.
FirstlyтАФstay away from the small merchants. They know their stock and have a strong interest in
keeping it intact. So do your shopping at the large multis. All you have to worry about then are
the store detectives and alarm systems. Thencareftil study of how they operate will generate
techniques to circumvent them.
One of my earliest and most primitive techniquesтАФ1 blush at revealing its simplicityтАФ1 called
the book-trap. I constructed a box that looked exactly like a book. Only it had a spring-loaded,
hinged bottom. All I needed to do

was to push it down on an unsuspecting Get-Stuffed bar to have the candy vanish from sight. This
was a crude but

6 A STAINLESS STEEL HAT IS BORN

workable device that I used for a good length of time I

was about to abandon it for a superior technique when I perceived an opportunity to finish it off
in a most positive

manner. I was going to take care of Smelly.
His name was Bedford Smillingham but Smelly was the only name we ever called him. As some are
born dancers

or painters, others are shaped for lesser tasks. Smelly was a born snitch. His only pleasure in
life was ratting on his schoolmates. He peeked and watched and snitched. No juvenile peccadillo
was too minor for him to note and report to the authorities. They loved him for thisтАФwhich will
tell you a lot about the "kind of teachers we had. Nor could he be beatup with impunity. His word
was always believed and it was the beater-uppers who suffered the punishment.
Smelly had done me some small ill, I forget exactly what, but it was enough to stir dark
andbrooding thought, to eventually produce a plan of action. Bragging is a thing all boys enjoy,
and I achieved great status by revealing my book-shaped candy bar collector to my peer group.
There

were oohs and ahhs, made more ooh and ahhish by portioning out some of the loot free for the
taking. Not only did this help my juvenile statusтАФbut I made sure that it

was done where Smelly could eavesdrop. It still feels like yesterday, and I glow warmly with the
memory.
"Not only does it workтАФbut I'll show you just howl Come with me to Ming's Multistore!" "Can we,
JimmyтАФcan we really?"
"You can. But not in a bunch. Drift over there a few at a time and stand where you can watch the
Get-Stuffed counter. Be thereat 1500 hours and you will really see something!"
Something far better than they could possibly have imagined. I dismissed them and watched the
Head's office. As

soon as Smelly went through the door I nipped down and broke into his locker.