"Simon Hawke - Sorcerer 1 - The Reluctant Sorcerer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawke Simon)

of the science libraryтАФabout eight hours too late. The
second time, once again, all the guests arrived, and Pamela
once more donned her wedding gown, and once again, no
Brewster. This time, he had driven off to Liverpool, to an
electronics warehouse, to pick up some obscure part for a
piece of lab equipment that was "absolutely vital" and
somehow he got sidetracked and no one saw or heard
anything from him for two days. The last timeтАФ"Shall we
try for three?" the minister had wryly askedтАФthey located
him in his high-security, private laboratory high atop the
corporate headquarters building of EnGulfCo International,
only no one could get in past the retinal pattern scanner and
they couldn't even take the elevator up to the right floor
because the special palm scanner pad would only respond to
Marvin Brewster's hand. They had called and called, but
Brewster had been distracted by the ringing of the phone,
and absentmindedly, he had simply turned it off. The last
time, when the wedding invitations were sent out, most of
the guests sent back their regrets and their assurances that
they would be with them in spiritтАФwhenever they finally
got around to getting married. Pamela's father still wasn't
speaking to her. Still, she was undaunted. One of these
days, she'd get it done, only it would require proper
planning. Perhaps next time she'd hire some security guards
to baby-sit him and deliver him to church on time.

She sat there with him, munching popcorn while Boris
Karloff lumbered through the film in his built-up boots and

The Reluctant Sorcerer тАв 7

makeup, and during the commercials, Brewster would be-
come absorbed in double-, triple-, and quadruple-checking
some kind of circuit board and switch assembly he had put
together on the coffee table.

Perhaps, thought Pamela, if she got pregnant, she could
command more of his attention. Marvin was always won-
derful with children. Probably because, in many ways, he
was still something of a child himself, she thought with a
smile. The children in the neighborhood all idolized him,
and like most of Brewster's friends, they called him Doc.
Pamela drew the line at that. She never called him Doc, it
seemed too flippant. But whenever she introduced him as Dr.
Marvin Brewster, he would invariably add, "But my friends
all call me Doc." When they were finally married, she
would put a stop to that. A man of his position needed to be
treated with proper respect.

What did Brewster think of all this planning for his