"Mike Resnick - Frankie the Spook (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

wonderful!"
"I'd settle for the orgies, if he was just a little more
pleasant."
"Who needs pleasant? Just lock him in a room and let him
write. Hell, Rabelais wastes so much time telling dirty jokes that
I've missed my last two deadlines."
"But he's pleasant?"
"Pleasant as all hell," said Hauer. "Just lazy." He paused.
"I mean, it isn't as if he's got anything else to do inside that
damned box."
Marvin stared intently at Hauer, who stared back at him.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" said Marvin at last.
"A trade?" suggested Hauer with a grin.
"Why not? They're ghost writers. Who else would have to
know?"
"What the hell. It's a deal!"
"Fine," said Marvin, shaking on it. "_Now_ let 'em say I
write like an Elizabethian!"

* * *

"Hi, Frankie," said Hauer. "Welcome to your new home."
Bacon eyed him suspiciously.
"It's okay, really it is," said Hauer. "Marvin told me all
about you, and we're gonna get along just fine."
"Why do I doubt that?"
"Beats the hell out of me. But as a gesture of good will,
take a look at this."
He held a paper up before the screen.
"What is it?"
"A contract for a novel about professional football."
"I know nothing about football."
"Neither does Shakespeare."
"I _am_ Shakespeare, you dolt!"
"What I mean is, since football is totally beyond your
experience, and all your research will be couched in contemporary
language, you ought to be able to get out from under Shakespeare's
-- uh, your own -- shadow once and for all, and be recognized as a
truly original literary genius."
"You know, there's a twisted kind of logic to that," mused
Bacon.


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"Then you'll do it?"
"I'll consider it."

* * *