"Michael McCollum - Gift" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCollum Michael)

GIFT
McCollum, Michael

If you think nuclear power is a dangerous way to generate electricity, then you obviously have not
considered the drawbacks of solar energy!



It was a cold, blustery Wednesday that first time he came into the El Dorado. It was going on midnight
and the place was deserted. Even Lucy and Suellen, our two "working girls" had given up for the night
and gone home. I recognized him immediately, of course. Even without my photographic memory, I
would have known R. J. Cowen.

"Hi," I said, "what'll it be?" I tried to be a study in friendly aloofness. I have always heard that Cowen
does not like people fawning all over him. That and the fact that he has been known to leave a
thousand-dollar bill for a tip made me keep my distance.

"You know who I am?" he asked. His voice was a low croak and his eyes were bloodshot. I
recognized the symptoms. He had the air of a man in the middle of a weeklong bender. His breath
confirmed my suspicions.

"You're R. J. Cowen, the sunscreen tycoon," I said. "Care for a drink, Mr. Cowen?"

"Yah," he said. "Uh, a scotch-and-water."

The beverage dispenser served up the scotch with its usual assortment of noises. I retired to the other
end of the bar and went back to polishing glasses. He did not taste the scotch at all. He just sat there
and stared into its dark translucence as though hypnotized. I watched him in the mirror for ten minutes,
then put the glass down and sidled back to where he was sitting. He did not take notice of me until I was
standing across from him.

"Pardon me, Mr. Cowen," I said. "It's none of my business, of course, but you look like you need a
friend. Anything I can do to help?"

He looked up with those red-rimmed eyes and sighed. "You say you know who I am."

"Yes, sir."

"Who am I?"

"Some people around this burg say you're the richest man in the world."

He nodded. "Yeah, I've heard that nasty rumor myself. The funny part of it is that it is true. I am the
richest man in the world. Not only that, I am richer than the next ten candidates combined. What do you
think of that?"

I whistled long and low. Not because it was news to me, you understand. Rather because he seemed to
expect it.

"Do you know how I got that way?" he asked, before finally taking a sip from his drink.