"C M Kornbluth - I Never Ast No Favours" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kornbluth C M)

you the truth, I am too struck with horror to talk.



Oq the ride upstate I am handcuffed to the juvenile court officer so I cannot make a break for it, but at
last I get time to think and I realise that it is not as bad as it looks. I am supposed to work for a dame
named Mrs. Parry and get chow, clothes and Prevailering Wages. I figure it takes maybe a month for her
to break me in on the cow racket or even longer if I play dumb. During the month I get a few bucks, a
set of threads and take it easy and by then I figure you will have everything straightened out and I can get
back to my regular occupation, only more careful this time. Experience is the best teacher, Mr. Marino,
as I am sure you know.



Well, we arrive at this town Chiunga Forks and I swear to God I never saw such a creepy place. You
wouldn't believe it. The main drag is all of four blocks long and the stores and houses are from wood. I
expect to see Gary Cooper stalking down the street with a scowl on his puss and his hands on his guns
looking for the bad guys. Four hours from the Third Ward in a beat-up '48 police department
BuickтАФyou wouldn't believe it.
 We park in front of a hash house, characters in rubber boots gawk at us, the court officer takes off the
cuffs and gabs with the driver but does not lose sight of me. While we are waiting for this Mrs. Parry to
keep the date I study the bank building across the street and develop some ideas which will interest you,
Mr. Marino, but which I will not go into right now.



All of a sudden there is a hassle on the sidewalk.



A big woman with grey hair and a built like Tony Galento is kicking a little guy who looks like T.B. Louis
the Book, who I guess you know, but not so muscular and wearing overalls. She is kicking him right in
the keister, five-six times. Each time I shudder, and so maybe does the bank building across the street.



"Shoot my, dawg, will you!" she yells at the character. "I said I'd kick your butt from here toScranton
when I caught up with you, Dud Wingle!"



"Leave me be!" he squawks, trying to pry her hands off his shoulders. "He was chasin' deer! He was
chasin' deer!"



ThudтАФthudтАФthud. "I don't keer if he was chasin' deer, panthers or butterflies." Thud. "He was my
dawg and you shot him!" Thud. She was drawing quite a crowd. The characters in rubber boots are
forgetting all about us to stare at her and him.