"William Morrison - Date of Publication 2083 AD" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morrison William)

a glass of milk and some jam and bread."
"And don't forget to go to bed at nine-thirty," growled Bill.
 "He won't forget," said Carrie. "He promised. Goodnight, dear."
As he closed the door behind them Bill said, "Bet he stays up till ten at least."
"You don't appreciate him," replied Carrie. "He's an extraordinary boy."
"No different from any other kid тАФexcept that he's ours."
"He's very much different. IтАЩm afraid you're not very perceptive about these things."
Bill growled again, something unintelligible this time, and the conversation died down. The romance
is out of our marriage, thought Carrie. A husband like Bill is never very polite. Except, of course, to
other men's wives. He takes me for granted, just as he takes his children.
Bet he won't behave to the others tonight as casually as be behaves to me. I remember that
time Mrs. Gallaher was over at the Munros'. You would have thought that woman was a poor
delicate fragile little flower who had to be tenderly cared for. Whereas we all know she has the
strength of a horse. Looks a little like one too. What any man can see in her ...
"Why, hello, Mrs. Gamber," she said as they entered the Munro house. "I was hoping so much that
we'd find you and your husband here again this evening. Clara said that you were afraid you wouldn't be
able to get out. How is little Elsie?"
"Much better, thank you."
So much for formal politeness. Bill, of course, was all set to treat her with his usual tenderness when
Clara Munro said, "They have the most wonderful program on tonight. Let's look at it for a while."
Carrie didn't mind at all. At least looking at the screen would keep Bill from worrying too much about
Mrs. Gamber. Although, goodness knows, if they had meant to watch television they might just as well
have stayed home with their own son.
But Clara was right about one thing. The program was wonderful тАФunexpectedly wonderful.
The master of ceremonies came out and announced the famous personalities he was going to display
within the next few minutes, and then there were the usual commercials and after that the first dramatic
sketch. It was a love scene between the current great lover and a very famous leading lady. It would
have brought tears to the most callous viewer's eyes. Only ...

Only, the great lover suddenly became an exact duplicate of Bill, and the leading lady was Mrs.
Gamber. Carrie rubbed her eyes but that was how they looked. Then she stared around at Bill and Mrs.
Gamber then in the room with her, then at Clara Munro and the others. No one seemed to see anything
strange.
She felt that she couldn't stand it. At the most tender moment her fists clenched and she found herself
standing up. "Stop it!" she shouted.
The great lover, who looked like Bill, seemed to turn and look right at her. And then the telephone
rang and he no longer looked like Bill at all. He wore a six-shooter and a ten-gallon hat and chaps and
spurs. He answered the phone, and said, "Them diamond-backed owl-hoots are raiding the Bar-B
spread, pardner, down in Red-Eye Gulch. Gotta act fast to stop them, pardner.
Carrie's eyes opened wide. The tone was caressing, full of tender passion. But the words . . .
The leading lady had changed too. She no longer looked like Mrs. Gamber. She replied happily, "If
we spur our bosses, pardner, we can ambush them galoots at Bald-eagle Pass. Shake a leg, pardner,
and we'll lam them rattlers a lesson they'll never furgit."
The scene blacked out. After a second or two a perspiring master of ceremonies appeared and
stammered, "Ladies and gentlemen, due to technical difficulties beyond our control weтАФerтАФcannot
bring you the rest of this touching love scene. However, I know you'll just love our next attraction, a
juggling act by that famous foursome, the Juggling Jugheads."
Everything that the Juggling Jug-heads touched seemed to be under a curse. It droppedтАФdropped
and shattered. Carrie had never been part of such an embarrassed audience. It was the most painful
thing, outside of seeing Bill and Mrs. Gamber, that she had ever witnessed.