"C M Kornbluth - The Mindworm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kornbluth C M)

The director called a few friendsтАФa judge, a couple the judge referred him to, a court clerk. Then he left
by way of the east wing of the building.



The boy survived three months with theBerrymans . Hard-drinking Mimi alternately caressed and
shrieked at him; Edward W. tried to be a good scout and just gradually lost interest, looking clean
through him. He hit the road hi June and got by with it for a while. He wore a Boy Scout uniform, and
Boy Scouts can turn up anywhere, any time. The money he had taken with him lasted a month. When the
last penny of the last dollar was three days spent, he was adrift on aNebraskaprairie. He had walked out
of the last small town because the constable was beginning to wonder what on earth he was hanging
around fop and who he belonged to. The town was miles behind on the two-lane highway; the infrequent
cars did not stop.



One ofNebraska's "rivers", a dry bed at this time of year, lay ahead, spanned by a railroad culvert.
There were some men in its shade, and he was hungry.
 They were ugly, dirty men, and their thoughts were muddled and stupid. They called him "Shorty" and
gave him a little dirty bread and some stinking sardines from a can. The thoughts of one of them became
less muddled and uglier. He talked to the rest out of the boy's hearing, and they whooped with laughter.
The boy got ready to run, but his legs wouldn't hold him up.



He could read the thoughts of the men quite clearly as they headed for him. Outrage, fear, and disgust
blended in him and somehow turned inside-out and one of the men was dead on the dry ground,
grasshoppers vaulting onto his flannel shirt, the others backing away, frightened now, not frightening.



He wasn't hungry any more; he felt quite comfortable and satisfied. He got up and headed for the other
men, who ran. The rearmost of them was thinking Jeez he folded up the evil eye we was onlygonna тАФ



Again the boy let the thoughts flow into his head and again he flipped his own thoughts around them; it
was quite easy to do. It was differentтАФthis man's terror from the other's lustful anticipation. But both had
their points . . .



At his leisure, he robbed the bodies of three dollars and twenty-four cents.



Thereafter his fame preceded him like a death wind. Two years on the road and he had his growth and
his fill of the dull and stupid minds he met there. He moved to northern cities, a year here, a year there,
quiet, unobtrusive, prudent, an epicure.