"Robert Heinlein - Year of the Jackpot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

"Excuse me." He went to his desk, dialed the City News
Bureau. "Alf? This is Pot Breen. They still sitting on that
story? . . . yes, yes, the Gypsy Rose file. Any new ones
today?" He waited; Meade thought that she could make
out swearing. "Take it easy, Alfthis hot weather can't last
forever. Nine, eh? Well, add anotherSanta Monica Bou-
levard, late this afternoon. No arrest." He added, "Nope,
nobody got her namea middle-aged woman with a cast in
one eye. I happened to see it . . . who, me? Why would I
want to get mixed up? But it's rounding up into a very,
very interesting picture." He put the phone down.
Meade said, "Cast in one eye, indeed!"
"Shall I call him back and give him your name?"
"Oh, nol"
"Very well. Now, Meade, we seemed to have located the
point of contagion in your caseMrs. Copley. What I'd like
to know next is how you felt, what you were thinking about,
when you did it?"
She was frowning intently. "Wait a minute, Potiphai do
I understand that nine other girls have pulled the stunt I
pulled?"
"Oh, nonine others today. You are" He paused briefly.
"the three hundred and nineteenth case in Los Angeles
county since the first of the year. I don't have figures on the
rest of the country, but the suggestion to clamp down on the
stories came from the eastern news services when the papers
here put our first cases on the wire. That proves that it's a
problem elsewhere, too."
"You mean that women all over the country are peel-
ing off their clothes in public? Why, how shocking!"
He said nothing. She blushed again and insisted, "Well,
it is shocking, even if it was me, this time."
"No, Meade. One case is shocking; over three hundred
makes it scientifically interesting. That's why I want to know
how it felt. Tell me about it."
"But All right, I'll try. I told you I don't know why I
did it; I still don't. I-"
"You remember it?"
"Oh, yesi I remember getting up off the bench and pulling
up my sweater. I remember unzipping my skirt. I remember
thinking I would have to hurry as I could see my bus stopped
two blocks down the street. I remember how good it felt
when I finally, uh" She paused and looked puzzled. "But
I still don't know why."
"What were you thinking about just before you stood
up?"
"I don't remember."
"Visualize the street. What was passing by? Where were
your hands? Were your legs crossed or uncrossed? Was there
anybody near you? What were you thinking about?"