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

"ThenтАФ"
"Hold on a minute," I said. "Now it's two billion, two

hunnerd fifty million, nine hunnerd and fifty-nine thousand, nine hunnerd and twenty. Cute little tyke, too."

"Boy or girl?" Maw asked.

"Boy," I told her.

"Then why can't you make me be in two billion whatever it was places at the same tune? Mebbe for just
a half a minute or so. I ain't greedy. That'd be long enough, anyhow."

"Long enough for what?" Maw asked.

Yancey give me a sly look. "I got me a problem," he said. "I want to find a feller. Trouble is, I dunno if I
kin find him now. It's been a awful long tune. But I got to, somehow or other. I ain't a-gonna rest easy in
my grave unless I done paid all my debts, and for thutty years I been owing this feller something. It lays
heavy on my conscience."

"That's right honorable of you, neighbor," Maw said.

Yancey snuffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"It's a-gonna be a hard job," he said. "I put it off mebbe a mite too long. The thing is, I was figgering on
sending my eight boys out to look for this feller sometime, so you kin see why it's busted me all up, the
way them no-good varmints up and got kilt without no warning. How am I gonna find that feller I want
now?"

Maw looked troubled and passed Yancey the jug.

"Whoosh!" he said, after a snort. "Tastes like real hell-fire for certain. Whoosh!" Then he took another
swig, sucked in some air, and scowled at Maw.

"If'n a man plans on sawing down a tree and Ms neighbor busts the saw, seems to me that neighbor
ought to lend his own saw. Ain't that right?"

"Sure is," Maw said. "Only we ain't got eight boys to lend you."

"You got something better," Yancey said. "Black, wicked magic, that's what. I ain't saying yea or nay
'bout that. It's your own affair. But seeing as how you kilt off them wuthless young 'uns of mine, so's I
can't do like I was intendingтАФwhy, then it looks like you ought to be willing to help me in some other
way. Long as I kin locate that feller and pay him what I owe him, I'm satisfied. Now, ain't it the gospel
truth that you kin spilt me up into a passel of me-critters?"

"Why, I guess we kin do that, I s'pose," Maw said.

"An' ain't it gospel that you kin fix it so's every dang

one of them me-critters will travel real fast and see everybody in the whole, entire world?"