"Arkady & Boris Strugatsky - Roadside Picnic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Strugatski Arkady)

bottle, of the hard stuff.
I went past the parking lot. There was a checkpoint there. There were two patrol cars in all their
gloryтАФlow-slung and yellow, armed with searchlights and machine guns, the toads. And of course, the
cops had blue helmets, too. They were blocking the whole street. There was no way to get through. I
kept walking with my eyes lowered, because it would be better for me not to see them right now. Not in
daylight. There's two or three characters there that I'm afraid to recognize, because if I do, that'll be the
end of them. It was a good thing for them that Kirill lured me into working for the institute. Otherwise, by
God, I would have found the snakes and finished them off.
I shouldered my way through the crowd, I was almost past it when I heard someone shout "Hey,
stalker!" Well, that had nothing to do with me, so I went on, rummaging for a cigarette in my pocket.
Someone caught up with me and took me by the sleeve. I shook off the hand and half turned toward the
man and said politely:
"What the hell do you think you're doing, mister?"
"Hold it, stalker," he said. "Just two questions."
I looked up at him. It was Captain Quarterblad. An old friend. He was all dried up and kind of
yellow.
"Ah, greetings, captain. How's the liver?"
"Don't try to talk your way out of this, stalker." He was angry and his eyes bored into me. "You'd be
better off telling me why you don't stop immediately when you're called."
And right behind him were two blue helmets, hands on holsters. You couldn't see their eyes, just their
jaws working under the helmets. Where in Canada do they find these guys? Have they been sent out here
to breed? In general I have no fear of the patrol guards in daytime, but they could search me, the toads,
and I wasn't too crazy about the idea just then.
"Were you calling me, captain?" I said. "You were calling some stalker."
"Are you trying to tell me that you're not a stalker?"
"Once the time I spent thanks to you was over, I went straight. Quit stalking. Thanks to you, captain,
my eyes were opened. If it hadn't been for you тАж "
"What were you doing in the Prezone Area?"
"What do you mean, what? I work there. Two years now." To bring the unpleasant conversation to a
close, I showed Captain Quarterblad my papers. He took my book and examined it page by page,
sniffing and smelling every stamp and seal on it. He returned the book and I could see how pleased he
was. His eyes lit up and there was color in his cheeks.
"Forgive me, Schuhart," he said. "I didn't expect it of you. I'm glad to see that my advice wasn't
wasted on you. Why, that's marvelous. You can believe me or not, but even back then I knew that you
would turn out all right. I just couldn't believe that a fellow like you тАж " He went on and on like a record.
Looked like I had saddled myself with another cured melancholic. Of course, I listened, eyes lowered
modestly, nodding, spreading my arms innocently, and if I recall, shyly scuffing the sidewalk with my foot.
The gorillas behind the captain's back listened a bit, and then got bored and went off some place more
exciting. Meanwhile the captain was painting glorious vistas for my future: education was the light,
ignorance was darkness, and the Lord loves and appreciates honest labor, and so on and so forth. He
was slinging the same bull the priest used to give us in prison every Sunday. And I really needed a
drinkтАФmy thirst wouldn't wait. All right, I thought to myself, Red, you can put up with this too. You have
to, so be patient. He can't keep it up for much longer. Look, he's losing his breath already. A lucky
break. One of the patrol cars started signaling. Captain Quarterblad looked around, heaved a sigh of
dismay, and gave me his hand.
"Well, I'm glad I met you, Honest Mr. Schuhart. I would have been happy to drink to this
acquaintance. I can't have whiskey, doctor's orders, but I would have enjoyed a beer. But, duty calls.
We'll meet again," he said.
God forbid. But I shook his hand and blushed and shuffled my feet, just like he wanted me to. He
finally left me and I headed swift as an arrow for the Borscht.