"Wil McCarthy - Garbage Day" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCarty Sarah)

Garbage Day
by Wil McCarthy
Be careful what you wish for. You may not anticipate the side effects ...

1. Camp Friendly

Conrad had never seen an angry mob before, much less been a part of one. Like an ocean wave it
seemed to offer two alternatives: ride along or be smashed under. And the ride, truth be told, was fun;
since the raid on the boathouse, and with it the capture of canoe paddles, the counselors were actually
afraid of them.

Of a bunch of fourteen-year-olds! Even "Rock" Dengle was on the retreat, falling back along the side of
the Arts and Crap cabin (and casting a worryingly broad shadow on its clay-and-log wall in the slanting
light of a fake and miniature sun).

"What the hell you boys doing?" he demanded.

"Busting out," Bascal answered lightly. Cheers rewarded him at once, from Conrad himself as much as
anyone. "Prince Bascal! All hail Prince Bascal, the Liberator!"

"This a summer camp," Rock pointed out. "Recreational. You here for fun, right?"

"Had enough," Bascal replied. Bascal Edward de Towaji Lutui, Crown Prince of the Queendom of Sol.

The badder boys тАФ Steve Grush, and that Ho kid whose last name was spelled "Ng" but sounded more
like "Eh" тАФ were flanking Rock on the left, flicking cigarette butts and hooting, and you'd better believe
that got his attention.

"I gotta hurt someone?" he wanted to know. He looked capable of it тАФ strong and pissed off, but in
control. Taking care of "troubled" boys was his job.

"We got to hurt you?" Ho Ng shot back, and gave him a whack on the skull with the paddle. Tried to,
anyway; Rock deflected it with a sweep of his arm. But since that left Steve an opening to jab him in the
nuts, it didn't do much good. Rock doubled over with a froggy kind of sound, but stayed on his feet.
Taking on fourteen troubled boys was a bit beyond his faculties.

There was a definite satisfaction in seeing a big guy pacified like that, but then it looked like Ho or Steve
might hit him again, maybe harder this time, and truthfully that made Conrad afraid, finally, of the
consequences. And ashamed to be a member of this particular mob, yes, because Rock Dengle was
definitely not a bad guy as jailers went. Kept the rules without treating you like a little kid, which was
more than he could say for most of the others.

But fortunately, Prince Bascal stepped forward, into what would have been the line of fire. "Steady, men.
Nobody wants to get hurt over this тАФ we just need the fax gate."

"Can't leave without your parent or guardian," Rock said, attempting to straighten. "Regulations, no
exception."

"Except today," Bascal said, and Conrad had to marvel at the casual, agreeable tone of this kid's voice,
trained from birth in the art of persuasion. It wasn't going to convince Rock or anything тАФ especially not