"Spider Robinson - The Magnificent Conspiracy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Spider)

That's half of what it'd cost you to rent a car for as long as the Dodge is liable to
last."
"Well, of all the colossal ... I don't have to listen to this crap!" I got up and
headed for the door, which was corny and a serious mistake, because when I was
halfway to the door he hadn't said a word and when I was upon it he still hadn't said
a word and I was so puzzled at how I could have overplayed it so badly that I
actually had the door open before I remembered what lay outside it.
"Tell the jailer
"Not to bother
"With his meal of bread and water today
"He is fasting till the killing's over here and I'll get you some ice water, Bob. Must
be ninety-five in the shade out there. You'll be okay in a minute."
"Yeah. Sure." I stumbled back to my seat and gratefully accepted the ice water he
brought from the refrigerator in a corner of the office. I remembered to keep my
back very straight. Get a hold of yourself, boy. It's just a song. Just some noise ...
"Now as I was sayin', Bob ... figure your car's worth a hundred. Okay. So figure
the Dutchman up the road'd offer you two hundred, and then sell it to some sorry
son of a bitch for four. Okay. Figure if you twisted his arm, he'd go threeтАФMid-City
Motors in town'd go that high, just to get you offa the lot quick. Okay. So I'll give
you four and a quarter."
I sprayed ice water and nearly choked. "Huh?"
"And I'll throw in that fancy convertible for
three hundred, if you really want herтАФbut you'll have to let us do the ring job first.
Won't cost you anything, and I could let you have a loaner 'til we get to it. Oh yeah,
an' that $100 tag you was askin' about is our best estimate of monthly gas, oil and
maintenance outlay. I'd recommend a different car for a man in your situation myself,
but it's up to you."
I didn't have to pretend surprise, I was flab-bergasted. "Are you out of your
mind?" Appar-ently my employer was given to understatement.
He didn't have the right set of wrinkles for a smile like that; he must have just
learned how. "Feels like I get saner every day."
"But ... but you can't be serious. This is a rib, right?"
Still smiling, he pulled out a wallet the size of a paperback dictionary, and counted
out one hundred and twenty-five dollars in twenties and fives. He held it out in a
hand so gnarled it looked like weathered maple. "What do you say? Deal?"
"I say, `You're getting reindeer shit all over my roof, fatso.' What's the catch?"
"No catch."
 "Oh, no. You're offering me a free lunch, and I'm supposed to just fasten the bib
and open my mouth, right? Is that convertible hot, or what?"
He sighed, scratched behind his glasses. "Bob, your attitude makes sense, in a
world like this. That's why I don't much like a world like this, and that's why I'm
working here. Now I understand how you feel. I've seen ten dozen varia-tions of the
same reaction since I started working for Mr. Cardwell, and it makes me a little
sadder every time. That convertible ain't hot and there ain't no other catch neither.
I'm offerin' you the car for what she's honestly worth, and if you can't believe that,
why, you just go down the line and see the Dutchman. He'll skin you alive, but he
won't upset you any."
I know when people are angry at me. He was angry, but not at me. So I probed.
"Larsen, you've got to be completely crazy."
He blew up.