"Mike Resnick - Malish" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

sure enough, he was.
And Malicious won _that_ race by nine lengths.
And the gnarly little man kept waiting, and Malicious kept
moving into high gear every time he hit the far turn, and before
long the crowds fell in love with him, and Joe Hernandez, who
called every race in California, became famous for crying "...and
here comes Malish!"
Santa Anita started selling Malish t-shirts 30 years before
t-shirts became popular, and Hollywood sold Malish coffee mugs,
and every time old Malish won, he made the national news. At the
end of his seventh year, he even led the Rose Bowl parade
in Pasadena. (Don't take _my_ word for it; there was a photo of it
in _Time_.)
By the time he turned eight years old, Malish started slowing
down, and the only thing that kept him safe was that the gnarly
little man was slowing down too, and one day he came to Malish's
stall, and this time he looked more tired than angry, and Malish
just stared at him without kicking or biting.
"Horse," said the gnarly little man, "you got more gumption
than most people I know, and I'm here to declare a truce. What do
you say to that?"
Malish whinnied, and the gnarly little man tossed him a
couple of sugar cubes, and that was the last Malish ever did see
of him.
He lost his next eleven races, and then they retired him, and
the California crowd fell in love with Seabiscuit, and that was
that.
Except that here and there, now and then, you can still find
a couple of railbirds from the old days who will tell you about
old Malish, the horse who ran like Satan himself was chasing him
down the homestretch.
That's the story. There really was a Malicious, and he used
to take off on the far turn like nobody's business, and it's all
pretty much the truth, except for the parts that aren't, and
they're pretty minor parts at that.
Like I said, you can look it up.

-- The End --