"Henry Kuttner - See You Later" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)

See You Later

OLD YANCEY was just about the meanest man in the world. I never seen a feller so downright,
sot-in-his ways, shortsighted, plain, ornery mean. What happened to him reminded me of what another
feller told me oncet, quite a spell ago. Fergit exactly who it wasтАФ name of Louis, maybe, or could be
TamerlaneтАФbut one tune he said he wished the whole world had only one haid, so's he could chop it off.

Trouble with Yancey, he got to the point where he figgered everybody in the world was again' him, and
blamed if he warn't right. That was a real spell of trouble, even for us Hogbenf.

Oh, Yancey was a regular stinker, all right. The whole Tarbell family was bad-eyed, but Yancey made
even them plumb disgusted. He lived up in a little one-room shanty back of the Tarbell place, and
wouldn't let nobody near, except to push vittles through the cut-out moon in the door.

Seems like some ten years back there was a new survey or something and the way it worked out,
through some funny legal business, Yancey had to prove he'd got squatter's rights on his land. He had to
prove it by living there for a year or something. 'Bout then he had an argument with his wife and moved
out to the little shack, which was across the property line, and said he was a-gonna let the land go right
back to the government, for all he cared, and that'd show the whole family. He knew his wife sot store by
her turnip patch and was afraid the government would take it away.

The way it turned out, nobody wanted the land anyhow. It was all up and down and had too many rocks
in it, but Yancey's wife kept on worriting and begging Yancey to come back, which he was just too mean
to do.

Yancey Tarbell couldn't have been oncommon comfortable up hi that little shack, but he was
short-sighted as he was mean. After a spell Mrs. Tarbell died of being

hit on the haid with a stone she was throwing up the slope at the shack, and it bounced back at her. So
that left only the eight Tarbell boys and Yancey. He stayed right where he was, though.

He might have stayed there till he shriveled up and went to glory, except the Tarbells started feuding with
us. We stood it as long as we could, on account of they couldn't hurt us. Uncle Les, who was visiting us,
got skittery, though, and said he was tired of flying up like a quail, two or three miles hi the air, every time
a gun went off behind a bush. The holes in his hide closed up easy enough, but he said it made him dizzy,
on account of the air being thinned out that high up.

This went on for a while, leastwise, and nobody got hurt, which seemed to rile the eight Tarbell boys. So
one night they all come over hi a bunch with their shooting irons and busted their way in. We didn't want
no trouble.

Uncle LemтАФwho's Uncle Les's twin except they was born quite a spell apartтАФhe was asleep for the
whiter, off in a holler tree somewheres, so he was out of it. But the baby, bless his heart, is gitting kind of
awkward to shift around, being as how he's four hunnerd years old and big for his ageтАФ'bout three
hunnerd pounds, I guess.

We could of all hid out or gone down to Piperville in the valley for a mite, but then there was Grandpaw
hi the attic, and I'd got sort of fond of the little Perfesser feller we keep hi a bottle. Didn't want to leave
him on account of the bottle might of got smashed in the ruckus, if the eight Tarbell boys was hkkered up
enough.