"R. A. Lafferty - Stories 5" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lafferty R A)

But there are other sounds, sometimes angry, sometimes imploring,
sometimes arrogant and menacing -- more about them in a bit.
Sheep and cattle sounds are all through the play; goat and horse and
swine sounds; the rattle of ducks and geese; all the wonderful noises of the
countryside. There are birds and grasshoppers, windmills and wagons, people
calling and singing. There are the sounds of carnival barkers and the chants
of gamblers and shills. There are the shrieks and giggles of young people.
And then there are those intrusive sounds of another sort, the separate
overlay. These seem to be mostly indoor sounds, but som~ times they are
outdoor grandstand sounds also, bristling talk in the reserved shadows of
crowd noise and roaring.
"No, no, no. I'll not be had. What sort of a girl do you think I am?"
"All these things I will give you, Clarie. No one else would give you so
much. No one else would ever care so much. But now is the time for it. Now is
the summer of our lives. Now we cut hay."
"Let's just see the price of a good hay barn first, Aurie. Let's just
get some things down on paper right now. We are talking about a summertime
check that is as big as all summer. And we are talking about a much larger
settlement to back up the other seasons and years."
"Don't you trust me, Clarie?"
"Of course I trust you, Ben tie baby. I trust that you will get that
trust fund that we are talking about down on paper today. I am a very trusting
woman. I believe that we should have a trust fund to cover every condition and
circumstance."
Odd talk that, to be mixed in with the sound of The Great Bicycle Race.
The race was in conjunction with the Tri-county Fair, which counties
were Camden, Gloucester, and Atlantic. The bicycle racers rode their
twenty-mile course every afternoon for five afternoons, and careful time was
kept. There was betting on each day's race, but there was bigger betting on
the final winner with the lowest total time for the five days, and the kitty
grew and grew. From the great fairground grandstand, one could see almost all
of the twenty-mile course that the riders rode, or could follow it by the
plumes of dust. The grandstand was on high ground and the whole countryside
was spread out before it. Cattle and mules were paraded and judged in front of
that grandstand, before and during and after that daily race; then the race
(for the approximate hour that it took to run it) was the big thing. There
were seven drivers in the race, and all of them were world famous: 1. Leslie
Whitemansion drive on a Von Sauerbronn "Special" of fine German craftsmanship.
This machine, popularly known then as the "whizzer", would get you there and
it would bring you back. It was very roadworthy and surprisingly fast.
2. Kirbac Fouet was on an Ernest Michaux Magicien, a splendid machine.
It had a socket into which a small sail might be fitted to give greater speed
on a favorable wind.
3. X. Paul McCoffin was on a British Royal Velocipede. There are two
things that may be remarked about the British Royal: it had solid rubber tires
(the first rubber-tired bicycle ever), and it had class. It had that cluttered
austerity of line that only the best of British products have.
4. Jaime del Diablo was on a Pierre Lallement "Boneshaker" with its
iron-tired wooden wheels, the front one much larger than the rear.
5. Torres Maigre was on an American-built Richard Warren Sears