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

Flashback: 1967
St. William Joseph College
Olympia, New York
USA
1.
I felt like the Wandering Catholic.
Wandering Apostate, anyway. Wandering around the campus on the first Sunday of September 1967 and
of my sophomore year, looking for my room. It wasn't where it was supposed to be. Or rather, it was
where it was supposed to be, Dabland Hall, room 220тАФbut there were two other guys' names on its
door. And two guys with those names inside, already unpacked, totally uninterested in my dilemma.
As I said, it was Sunday. There was no one anywhere on campus to consult. And nothing for it but to
wander the whole dorm, squinting at the 3x5 index card on every single damn door, looking for one that
read Russell Walker/Sean McSorley. The only consolation was looking forward to seeing Sean, knowing
what a meal he would make of this screwup. His sense of humor was almost Krassnerian. I knew he
would have me laughing.
My faith wavered when I finished the whole dorm without finding either of our names.
Could I have missed a card? Certainly. Did I want to recanvass the building for it? Not a whole lot.
Sighing deeply, I checked on my VWтАФstill not broken into, still packed to the consistency of a rubber
brick with my stuffтАФand trudged uphill to the other men's dorm, Nalligan Hall.
I never did find a card with my name or Sean's. But on the third floor, near the front, I found a door with
no card. Instead there was an envelope affixed to it with scotch tape, and my name, only, was written in
ink on the envelope.
I pulled the envelope off the door, leaving a scotch tape tail, and tried the knob. Locked. The envelope
contained no keys. Just a brief note:


Dear Russell,
Please report to me before checking into your room. Your situation has changed.

Cordially yours,
Ivan Lefors,
Resident Advisor
Room 345


What the hell did that mean? Nothing pleasant, I suspected. My instincts have always been good.

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Nieuwe%20map/074348861X___2.htm (2 of 6)24-12-2006 1:50:07
 - Chapter 2


"Sean's been drafted," Lefors told me.
"Oh shit."
He nodded. "That's exactly right." He was way too old to be in college. His bearing, his haircut, his
dress, his room, everything screamed that he had, in the immediate past, been in one of the armed forces.
I correctly assumed Vietnam. "He failed one too many courses last year, and last week the draft board