"Robert Reed - X-Country" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Robert)

think so?тАЭ

тАЬI guessтАФтАЭ

тАЬOn a treasure map, doesnтАЩt the X lead us to the piratesтАЩ chest?тАЭ Kip glanced
at me, asking, тАЬMore than anything, what would you like to find? If you had a shovel
and map, I mean. If you could dig deep and uncover any possible wonder...?тАЭ

I hesitated. Suddenly I was sitting with a person I didnтАЩt know, his language
and smart voice taking me by surprise. In vain, I tried to conjure up some worthy
response. Or better, I wanted to find some way to ask my friend to explain his
sudden, unique transformation.

But there wasnтАЩt time. Moments later, half a dozen runners plunged out into
the open. They were coming from a third directionтАФa line of scrawny people bathed
in sweat and adrenaline. Judging by their body language, the angriest member had
claimed the task of trotting up to Kip. тАЬWill you give us some help here?тАЭ he cried
out. тАЬThis isnтАЩt fair.тАЭ

Kip took off his smile. Underneath his chair was a gray metal box. He calmly
opened it and reached in, removing six twenty-dollar bills. тАЬFifteen for the entry fee,
and five dollars for your gas and trouble. Does that sound fair?тАЭ

The runners stopped short. One woman had a deep gash on her knee, while
the man in back looked as if he had fallen down an entire hillside. They glanced at
each other, measuring moods. Then each took the offered bill and started jogging
back to their cars.

Waiting inside that box were twin stacks of new twenties.

Kip had come here knowing exactly what would happen, and he was ready for
it. I donтАЩt know what startled me more: That this elaborate disaster had been
anticipated, or that this man with whom I had run for more than a year had suddenly
shown me an interest in, if not a true talent for, mathematics, and perhaps for skills
that were even stranger.

****

Four hundred and eighty-seven runners had started the race, and remarkably,
nearly seventy of them eventually returned to the finish line, each having delivered the
necessary four Popsicle sticks marked with their bib number. But even among those
finishers, there were controversies and sour looks. The fastest runner in the
groupтАФa twenty-three-year-old ex-University starтАФhad gotten profoundly lost.
HeтАЩd circled Enderville at least twice before stumbling over the last station, and by
the time he sprinted home, he won nothing but second place in his age group and
sixty-fifth overall.

тАЬThis isnтАЩt right,тАЭ he chanted throughout the awards ceremony.

The first male was a stocky fellow in his middle fortiesтАФa self-made expert in