"Jack McKinney - Robotech 02 - Battle cry" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinney Jack)

"Minmei," he resisted, "I'm not going to spend my leave shopping."

"I promise I'll only be a second."

"It always starts out that way and, and..."

Minmei already had her hand on the doorknob. "Just what else did you have in mind for
today, Rick?"

She disappeared into the woman's shop, leaving him standing on the sidewalk, feeling
somehow guilty for even thinking about going to the park.

By the time he entered, Minmei had the hangered dress draped over one arm and was going
through the racks, pulling out belts, blouses, patterned stockings, skirts, sweaters, and
lingerie. Rick checked his watch and calculated that he'd be AWOL long before she finished trying
everything on. She had entered the dressing room and was throwing the curtain closed.

"And no peeking, Rick," she called out.

Fortunately there were no other customers in the store at the time, but the saleswoman
standing silently behind Rick had found Minmei's warning just about the funniest thing she had
heard all week. Her squeal of delight took Rick completely by surprise. He thought an early-
warning signal had just gone off-and in the middle of squatting down for cover, he managed to lose
some of the items from the top of the shopping bag. In stooping over to recover these, he tipped
the bag, spilling half the contents across the floor.

The woman was laughing like a maniac now, the door buzzer was signaling the entry of three
additional shoppers, and Minmei was peeking over the top of the dressing room curtain asking what
had happened. Rick, meanwhile, was down on his hands and knees crawling under tables in search of
the goods-bottles of shampoo, creme rinse, body lotion, baby oil, lipsticks, and sundry makeup
containers-all of which had become covered in some sort of slippery wash from a container of
liquid face soap that had partially opened. Each time Rick grabbed hold of one of the items, it
would jump from his hand like a wet fish. But he soon got the hang of it and had almost everything
rebagged in a short time. Only one thing left to retrieve: a tube of tricolored toothpaste just


file:///F|/rah/Jack%20McKinney/McKinney,%20Jack%20-%20Robotech%2002%20-%20Battle%20Cry.txt (5 of 95) [1/19/03 4:55:06 PM]
 file:///F|/rah/Jack%20McKinney/McKinney,%20Jack%20-%20Robotech%2002%20-%20Battle%20Cry.txt

out of reach, bathing in a puddle of the face soap. Rick gave it a shot, stretching out and making
a grab for it. Sure enough, the tube propelled itself and ended up under another table.

It was time to get serious. Rick set the bag aside and crawled off stealthily after his
prey, as though the tube had taken on a will of its own and was on the verge of scurrying off,
like some of Macross City's robo-dispenser units. He squinted, held the tube in his gaze, and when
he was near enough, pounced.

The tube seemed to scream in his hands and immediately worked itself into a vertical
launch. But Rick had prepared himself for this; he lifted his head, eyes fixed on the tube's