"Stepping Stone" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morrison William)

chemist that's got a job that's a stepping stone to a fine career ofЧ Arthur!
Arthur, I'm talking to you! You come back here!"
But the job did leave his days free. Chesley escaped from the house and headed
down toward the corner bar, where the barkeep drew him a beer with a half-inch
collar without waiting to be asked. "You're early," said the bartender, handing
Chesley his change. "I thought you'd be watching television."
"That's what I wanted," Chesley said bitterly. "I wanted to see that new program
they're talking about."
The barkeep said, "That Viceroy thing?"
"Yeah. The one they cancelled all the other shows for. Harry, what's the matter
with you that you don't have a TV like every other bar in the Bronx?"
"It's my wife," the bartender explained; and maybe that wouldn't have been
enough for any other man, but it was enough for Arthur Chesley. The bartender
said, "Say, whyn't you go see it in person?"
"You mean at the studio?"
"Nah. No studio. Here." And the bartender picked a card off the top of a stack
at the end of the counter. "Fellow left these here this morning."
Chesley read it, sipping his beer. FREE ONE DOLLAR FREE it said at the top, and
that was pretty interesting. These nuts, he thought, I wonder how they're going
to wiggle out of it in the fine print? Chesley had a wide experience of things
marked "free," and they had always, always turned out to be not so very free at
all. The small printЧnot very small, eitherЧsaid only:
The Viceroy will make an announcement of unparalleled importance to every person
in the world TODAY At the Yankee Stadium
* ONE DOLLAR FREE to every person attending
* FIVE ADDITIONAL DOLLARS FREE to every person who stays to the end of the
program.
"Whoever he is," Chesley said, offering to return the card.
"Keep it. It's probably some kind of advertising deal, you know?"
"If it is, it costs plenty of money," said Chesley. "Why, the Stadium must hold
more than seventy-five thousand people. If everybody gets six bucks, whyЧhey,
that's nearly half a million dollars!"
"Nah. Nobody's going to spend half a million," said Harry positively.
"Um," said Chesley. He finished his beer and put the card in his pocket. "I
don't know," he said, "maybe I'll take a look." And why not? Because after all
it was nearly twelve hours until it was time to polymerize some more molecules,
and the only other place he could think of was home.
They really did give away a dollar. Somebody had hooked up gadgets to the
turnstiles, and when you pushed your way through there was a click and a rattle
and a dollar bill popped up through a slot like a paper towel in a restaurant
washroom. It looked real, too.
There were seats down in the field, just like at a prize fight, and about where
the pitcher's box usually was, there was a platform with microphones and TV
cameras. There must have been plenty of people in the Bronx who enjoyed getting
a dollar FREE, because the seats filled up rapidly.
Arthur was earlyЧthat was his habit; and he got a good seat. He had nothing to
do but chat with his neighbors and eat. He bought himself two hot dogs and an
ice cream cone. Ordinarily he was careful about his moneyЧthat is, his wife was
careful about money and he was careful about his wife Чbut he regarded the
dollar as found money, and he had every intention of staying on to the bitter