"R. A. Lafferty - Stories 2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lafferty R A)

prey were armed and wild and truculent and joyous.
It would be good.

Out between the orbs, several tentacles of Ultimate Justice came
near together.
"Was there not somewhere the mention of twenty-four or twenty-six dollars
paid?" one tentacle asked the other. "I thought I remembered some such
figure."
"No, no," said the other tentacle, "That was only the estimated
value placed on the material. There was no specie paid. The list is correct
as rendered, and the repayment has been accepted and certified."

In a forgotten and half-filled basement on the island, two of the
remaining old-folk people were still in hiding. They were startled by the
new sort of noise.
"What is it, papa? What have they done?" the old woman asked.
"Sold it back to the Indians, mama," the old man said.
"Why have they not thought of that a long time ago?"
 McGRUDER'S MARVELS

There were four bids, and there should have been only three. Only
three firms in the country were capable of making so minia- turized a
control station.
Three bids were in quite heavy packets. The fourth was in I slim
envelope. This was Opening INV-3MINCON3999.
"Ah, here are the bids from Micro Machinists Amalgamated, from
Intensive Instrumentation, and from DOW-MEC-TEC," said Colonel
Ludenschiager. "It isn't likely that any of them will be less than two
years, and we need it within two weeks. We are whipped before we start!" He
struck the table with a ringing thud. "But what is the anomalous intrusion,
the small envelope bid, Dinneen?"
"It's from an M. M. McGruder," said Colonel Dinneen. "The secend M
is in quotation marks. We may have a case for the prosecution here. The
Joker Act was set up for just such stuff as this. There has to be a ceiling
put on cranks."
"There was a certain McGruder in Manhattan when I was a boy,"
Colonel Schacbmeister smiled. "I spent many pleasant moments in his, ah,
Hippodrome, I believe he called it. It was a narrow place off a narrow cigar
store, and only about three could get in at one time, if they were small,
and we were. Best show I over saw for a dim , though. What is the address of
this one?"
"Here in D. C.," said Dinneen. "It would be a rundown address even
without the ending 'Apt. 3, room 4-E, use cellar steps off small alley.'
Some address! And the phone number of the Rowdy-Dow Bar and Grill is given.
It's written in an old and probably insane hand. We will prosecute with
compassion, possibly."
The chime chimed for 9:30. It was opening time. And they opened the
bids.
They quickly made the basic resume:
1. Micro Machinists Amalgamated. Basic Module: $2,106,740.00.