"Mickey Zucker Reichert - Who Killed Humpty Dumpty" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reichert Mickey Zucker)

"And you saw this girl there?" the Gryphon persisted, refusing to be sidetracked.
The White King peered at Alice, as if noticing her in the courtroom for the first time. "Yes, oh yes.
Hello! She came by just after the Great Fall, you know. Very pleasant company."
The Gryphon glanced about the courtroom, as if challenging all those assembled to cause a
commotion again. But, this time, no one spoke. "Was there anyone else nearby? Anyone else who might
have been responsible for Humpty Dumpty's fall?"
"No," the King said sadly. "No others aboutтАж" He paused, face lost in a pile of thoughtful wrinkles.
Then his eyes and nose reemerged from the creases. "I did ask her to look for my Messenger on the
road, and she said she saw Nobody on the road." The King sighed. "I remember envying her vision, that
she could see Nobody when I had a hard enough time seeing real people in the twilight." He glanced at
his Messengers near the door. Haigha nodded thoughtfully, and Hatta studied his shoes as if he planned
to do a painting of them.
The Gryphon winked at Alice, then leaned forward to question the White King further. "Which
direction was this Nobody person going?"
"Well." The King laced his fingers through his beard. "Well, since I didn't actually see him, I had
assumed him to be coming toward us. But, then, Haigha said he had passed Nobody on his way to us.
And Nobody never arrived, so I'd now have to guess that Nobody was actually going away from us."
"And away from Humpty Dumpty," the Gryphon finished.
"Yes, quite so," said the King. "And he didn't stop to pay his respects, which is impolite if not illegal,
so he must have been avoiding us."
"Which means," finished the Gryphon as every creature in the courtroom stared in fascination, "that
he must have had something to hide."
"So Nobody killed Humpty Dumpty!" the White King hollered, voice deafening in the quiet room.
"Nobody?"
"Nobody!"
"Nobody?"
"NOBODY!" The word was whispered, shouted, squeaked, barked, quacked, and screamed
around the courtroom until it all became a painful clamor that ached through Alice's ears.
"Therefore," the Gryphon called over the others, "if Nobody killed Humpty Dumpty, then I have to
rule his death a suicide. Case dismissed." The bang of the gavel disappeared beneath the hubbub.
The courtroom doors banged open as creatures of every description poured outside. The noise
grew softer as more and more hopped, walked, or slithered from the courtroom, leaving Alice alone in a
silence that felt comfortable in her ears. She had just turned to leave herself when she heard a gentle,
familiar voice. "Hello." Alice turned to face a huge, pointy-toothed grin hovering over the judge's table.
This, she felt certain, belonged to the Cheshire Cat she had met during her visit down the Rabbit's hole.
She knew of no one else who could perform this trick; but, then again, she had known of no one at all
who could until she met this Cheshire Cat.
Now, Alice breathed a sigh of relief. She had always found the Cheshire Cat more sensible than the
others here, though it named itself mad. At least, it acknowledged its strangeness while all the other
creatures seemed to assume themselves normal. She waited patiently while the Cat's other features
appeared in appropriate positions around the smile: first the eyes, then the nose and whiskers, the head,
and finally the body and tail. "Oh!" said Alice, impressed with the Cheshire Cat's grooming. "Your coat
shines today."
"There are things one can eat to put a sheen to one's fur," the Cat said, winking. "In a way, you
might say Humpty Dumpty bequeathed me my good grooming."
The only outfit of Humpty Dumpty's that Alice recalled was a cravat that his strange build had
caused her to mistake for a belt. Nevertheless, it seemed respectful to speak kindly of the dead,
especially after having been found innocent of his murder. "He had good taste."
"I would say," said the Cheshire Cat, grin widening and voice rumbling like a purr, "he was a
creature of egg-ceptionally good taste. Egg-ceptionally good, indeed."