"Heinlein, Robert A - The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

" 'Never mind trouble! Fiddle-de-dee!' " He broke off singing suddenly, turned the shower down sufficiently to permit ordinary conversation, and said, "Good morning, beautiful!"
Cynthia was standing in the door of the bathroom, rubbing one eye and looking blearily at him with the other. "People who sing before breakfast-good morning."
"Why shouldn't I sing? It's a beautiful day and I've had a beautiful sleep. I've got a new shower song. Listen."
"Don't bother."
"This is a song," he continued, unperturbed, "dedicated to a Young Man Who Has Announced His Intention of Going Out into the Garden to Eat Worms."
"Teddy, you're nasty."
"No, I'm not. Listen." He turned the shower on more fully. "You have to have the water running to get the full effect," he explained. "First verse:

"I don't think I'll go out in the garden;
I'll make the worms come in to me!
If I have to be miser'ble,
I might as well be so comjort'bly!"

He paused for effect. "Chorus," he announced.

"Never mind trouble! Fiddle-de-dee!
Eat your worms with Vitamin B!
Follow this rule and you will be
Still eating worms at a hundred 'n' three!"

He paused again. "Second verse," he stated. "Only I haven't thought up a second verse yet. Shall I repeat the first verse?"
"No, thanks. Just duck out of that shower and give me a chance at it."
"You don't like it," he accused her.
"I didn't say I didn't."
"Art is rarely appreciated," he mourned. But he got out.
He had the coffee and the orange juice waiting by the time she appeared in the kitchen. He handed her a glass of the fruit juice. "Teddy, you're a darling. What do you want in exchange for all this coddling?"
"You. But not now. I'm not only sweet, I'm brainy."
"So?"
"Uh-huh. Look- I've figured out what to do with friend Hoag."
"Hoag? Oh, dear!"
"Look out-you'll spill it!" He took the glass from her and set it down. "Don't be silly, babe. What's gotten into you?"
"I don't know, Teddy. I just feel as if we were tackling the kingpin of Cicero with a pea shooter."
"I shouldn't have talked business before breakfast. Have your coffee-you'll feel better."
"All right. No toast for me, Teddy. What's your brilliant idea?"
"It's this," he explained, while crunching toast. "Yesterday we tried to keep out of his sight in order not to shake him back into his nighttime personality. Right?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, today we don't have to. We can stick to him like a leech, both of us, practically arm in arm. If it interferes with the daytime half of his personality, it doesn't matter, because we can lead him to the Acme Building. Once there, habit will take him where he usually goes. Am I right?"
"I don't know, Teddy. Maybe. Amnesia personalities are funny things. He might just drift into a confused state."
"You don't think it will work?"
"Maybe it will, maybe it won't. But as long as you plan for us to stay close together, I'm willing to try it-if you won't give up the whole matter."
He ignored the condition she placed on it. "Fine. I'll give the old buzzard a ring and tell him to wait for us at his apartment." He reached across the breakfast table and grabbed the phone, dialed it and talked with Hoag. "He's certainly a June bug, that one," he said as he put the phone down. "At first he couldn't place me at all. Then all of a sudden he seemed to click and everything was all right. Ready to go, Cyn?"
"Half a sec."
"O. K." He got up and went into the living room, whistling softly.

The whistling broke off; he came quickly back into the kitchen. "Cyn-"
"What's the matter, Teddy?"
"Come into the living room-please!"
She hurried to do so, suddenly apprehensive at the sight of his face. He pointed to a straight chair which had been pulled over to a point directly under the mirror near the outer door. "Cyn-how did that get where it is?"
"That chair? Why, I pulled a chair over there to straighten the mirror just before I went to bed. I must have left it there."
"Mm-m-m- I suppose you must have. Funny I didn't notice it when I turned out the light."