"Fritz Leiber - Coming Attraction UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leiber Fritz)

wrestlers?Ф she asked rapidly. УThe ones that wrestle women, I
mean. They often lose, you know. And then they have to have a
girl to take their frustration out on. A girl whoТs soft and weak
and terribly frightened. They need that, to keep them men. Other men donТt want them to have a girl. Other men want them just to fight women and be heroes. But they must have a girl. ItТs horrible for her.Ф
I squeezed her fingers tighter, as if courage could be transmitted _granting I had any. УI think I can get you to England,Ф I said.
Shadows crawled onto the table and stayed there. I looked up at the three men who had been at the end of the bar. They were the men I had seen in the big coupe. They wore black sweaters and close-fitting black trousers. Their faces were as expressionless as dopers. Two of them stood about me. The other loomed over the girl.
УDrift off, man,Ф I was told. I heard the other inform the girl, УWeТll wrestle a fall, sister. What shall it be? Judo, slapsie or killwho-can?Ф
I stood up. There are times when an Englishman simply must be maltreated. But just then the foxlike man came gliding in like the star of a ballet. The reaction of the other three startled me. They were acutely embarrassed.
He smiled at them thinly. УYou wonТt win my favor by tricks like this,Ф he said.
УDonТt get the wrong idea, Zirk,Ф one of them pleaded.
УI will if itТs right,Ф he said. УShe told me what you tried to do this afternoon. That wonТt endear you to me, either. Drift.Ф
They backed off awkwardly. УLetТs get out of here,Ф one of them said loudly as they turned. УI know a place where they fight naked with knives.Ф
Little Zirk laughed musically and slipped into the seat beside my companion. She shrank from him, just a little. I pushed my feet back, leaned forward.
УWhoТs your friend, baby?Ф he asked, not looking at her.
She passed the question to me with a little gesture. I told him. УBritish,Ф he observed. УSheТs been asking you about getting out of the country? About passports?Ф He smiled pleasantly. УShe likes to start running away. DonТt you, baby?Ф His small hand began to stroke her wrist, the fingers bent a little, the tendons ridged, as if he were about to grab and twist.
УLook here,Ф I said sharply. УI have to be grateful to you for ordering off those bullies, butЧФ
УThink nothing of it,Ф he told me. УTheyТre no harm except when theyТre behind steering wheels. A well-trained fourteenyear-old girl could cripple any one of them. Why, even Theda here, if she went in for that sort of thing . . .У He turned to her, shifting his hand from her wrist to her hair. He stroked it, letting the strands slip slowly through his fingers. УYou know I lost tonight, baby, donТt you?Ф he said softly.
I stood up. УCome along,Ф I said to her. УLetТs leave.Ф
She just sat there. I couldnТt even tell if she was trembling. I tried to read a message in her eyes through the mask.
УIТll take you away,Ф I said to her. УI can do it. I really will.Ф
He smiled at me. УSheТd like to go with you,Ф he said. УWouldnТt you, baby?Ф
УWill you or wonТt you?Ф I said to her. She still just sat there.
He slowly knotted his fingers in her hair.
УListen, you little vermin,Ф I snapped at him. УTake your hands off her.Ф
He came up from the seat like a snake. IТm no fighter. I just know that the more scared I am, the harder and straighter I hit. This time I was lucky. But as he crumpled back I felt a slap and four stabs of pain in my cheek. I clapped my hand to it. I could feel the four gashes made by her dagger finger caps, and the warm blood oozing out from them.
She didnТt look at me. She was bending over little Zirk and cuddling her mask to his cheek and crooning, УThere, there, donТt feel bad, youТll be able to hurt me afterward.Ф
There were sounds around us, but they didnТt come close. I leaned forward and ripped the mask from her face.
I really donТt know why I should have expected her face to be anything else. It was very pale, of course, and there werenТt any cosmetics. I suppose thereТs no point in wearing any under a mask. The eyebrows were untidy and the lips chapped. But as for the general expression, as for the feelings crawling and wriggling across it . .
Have you ever lifted a rock from damp soil? Have you ever watched the slimy white grubs?
I looked down at her, she up at me. УYes, youТre so frightened, arenТt you?Ф I said sarcastically. УYou dread this little nightly drama, donТt you? YouТre scared to death.Ф
And I walked right out into the purple night, still holding my hand to my bleeding cheek. No one stopped me, not even the girl wrestlers. I wished I could tear a tab from under my shirt and test it then and there, and find IТd taken too much radiation, and so be able to ask to cross the Hudson and go down New Jersey, past the lingering radiance of the Narrows Bomb, and so on to Sandy Hook to wait for the rusty ship that would take me back over the seas to England.