"Spider Robinson - Very Bad Deaths" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Spider)

I stood, if possible, stiller. A comedy voice, somewhere between Michael Jackson and a Mel Blanc
cartoon character.
"You didn't used to be so suspicious."
That voice tickled at the edges of memory. Deep memory. Twenty years? No. It felt like more. Thirty,
maybe. Which would make itтАФ
Oh wow. The trackball fell forgotten from my hand to the carpet. I opened my mouthтАФand hesitated,
caught by a ridiculous dilemma. I thought I knew who he was, now . . . and for the life of me I couldn't
recall his real name. Just what everybody used to call him, and I certainly wasn't about to use that. But
screw namesтАФhow could it possibly be him out there? I wanted to fling open the door, and couldn't
bring myself to touch the knob.
"It's me, all right, Slim."
I stepped back a pace. For the first time I began to wonder whether I was having my own first encounter
with a dead person, like Susan's visit from her father.
"You didn't used to be this superstitious, either," he said.
My words sounded stupid to me even as they were leaving my mouth, but I couldn't seem to hold them
back. "How do I know that's you?"
Silence for five seconds. Then: "You never did the Bunny. But you would have."
I gasped, and flipped on the outside light and flung open the door, and gaped like the cartoon character
he sounded like, and still faintly resembled.
"Smelly," I cried. "Jesus Christ, you are alive."
No question it was him. He looked much the same, only balderтАФbut far more significant, he smelled
just as unbelievably, unforgettably horrible as ever. My eyes began to water.
"I wish I could say the same for you," he said. "My god, you're at the end of your rope."
I felt I should be offended, but couldn't work up the energy. "How the hell could you possibly know
that?" I demanded. "You just fucking got here."
He frowned and shook his head. "I'm going to have to fix you, first. And there's no time. But you're no
use to me like this."
"Why would I want to be of use to you? Do I owe you something I'm not remembering? LookтАФ" His
name came back. "Look, Zandor, I ain't broken, and even if I was, I didn't ask to be fixed."
"I don't care. I need you to help me prevent the torture, rape and butchery of an entire family," he said,
and stepped into my office.

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