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

Roadrunner, the first all-iron machine. "The only wood is in the heads of its
detractors" was an advertising slogan used for the Roadrunner.
6. Inspiro Spectralski (Is he a Man? Is he a Cannon Ball?) was riding a
Mcracken's Comet. This comet had won races at several other county fairs
around the state.
7. Hubert Saint Nicholas had a machine such as no one in the state had
ever seen before. It was a French bicyclette named the Supreme. The bicyclette
had the pedals fixed to drive the back wheel by the ingenious use of a chain
and sprocket wheel, and so was not, strictly speaking, a bicycle at all. The
true bicycles of the other six racers had the pedals attached directly to the
front wheels. There was one syndicate of bettors who said the bicyclette had a
mechanical advantage, and that Hubert would win on it. But other persons made
jokes about this rig whose back wheel would arrive before its front wheel and
whose driver would not arrive before the next day.
It was on these great riders that all the six-shot gamblers around were
wagering breath-taking sums. It was for them that sports came from as far away
as New York City.
Clarinda Calliope played the role of Gloria Goldenfield, the beauty
queen of the Tri-county Fair in this drama. But she also played the role of
the "Masked Alternate Rider Number Seven". (All the racing riders had their
alternates to ride in their places in case of emergency.) And Clarinda also
played a third role, that of Rakesly Rivertown, the splurging gambler. Who
would ever guess that the raffish Rakesly was being played by a woman? The
author and director of The Great Bicycle Race did not know anything about
Clarinda playing these latter two roles.
The grandstand, the bandstand, the pleasures of a country carnival in
the summertime! And the "slow smells" of the selenium-directed matrix just
becoming ripe and evocative now! Smell of sweet clover and timothy hay, or hot
horses pulling buggies or working in the fields, smells of candy and sausage
and summer squash at the eating places at the fair, smells of dusty roads and
of green money being counted out and thumped down on betting tables for the
bicycle race! And then again there was the override of intrusive voices
breaking in on the real summer drama just by accident.
"Clarie, I will do handsomely by you in just a day or so. I have placed
very, very heavy bets on the bicycle race, and I will win. I am betting
against the wildest gambler in this part of the country, Rakesly Rivertown,
and we will have the bet up to a cool million with one more raise. He is
betting the field against number seven. And number seven will win."
"I have heard that this Rakesly Rivertown is about the sharpest gambler
anywhere, and that he has a fine figure and makes and extraordinary
appearance."
"A fine figure! Why, the fraud is shaped like a girl! Yes, he is a sharp
gambler, but he doesn't understand mechanics. Number seven, the Supreme, has a
rear-wheel drive with gear-ratio advantage. Hubert Saint Nicholas, who is
riding number seven, is just toying with the other riders so far to get the
bets higher, and he can win whenever he wants to. I will win a million dollars
on the race, my love. And I will give it to you, if you act a little bit more
like my love."
"Surely your love for me should transcend any results of a bicycle race,
Aurie. If you really loved me, and if you contemplated making such a gift to