"Michael Swanwick - Shezro with Tyrannosaur" - читать интересную книгу автора (Swanwick Michael)

place. But then I took a tyrannosaur tooth from my pocket and gave it to Philippe. It was just a shedтАФrexes
drop a lot of teethтАФbut no need to mention that.


file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Mic...wanwick%20-%20Shezro%20with%20Tyrannosaur.htm (4 of 11) [12/30/2004 8:08:26 PM]
 "Shezro with Tyrannosaur" by Michael Swanwick


"It looks sharp," Mrs. de Cherville said, with a touch of alarm.

"Serrated, too. You might want to ask your mother if you can use it for a knife, next time you have steak," I
suggested.

Which won him over completely. Kids are fickle. Philippe immediately forgot all about Hawkins.

Melusine, however, did not. Eyes flashing with anger, she stood, throwing her napkin to the floor. "I want to
know," she began, "just what you think youтАЩreтАФ"

Fortunately, that was when Satan arrived.

The tyrannosaur came running up the hillside at a speed youтАЩd have to be an experienced paleontologist to
know was less than optimal. Even a dying T. rex moves fast.

People gasped.

I took the microphone out of my pocket, and moved quickly to the front of the room. "Folks, we just got lucky. IтАЩd
like to inform those of you with tables by the window that the glass is rated at twenty tons per square inch.
YouтАЩre in no danger whatsoever. But you are in for quite a show. Those who are in the rear might want to get a
little closer."

Young Philippe was off like a shot.

The creature was almost to us. "A tyrannosaur has a hyperacute sense of smell," I reminded them. "When it
scents blood, its brain is overwhelmed. It goes into a feeding frenzy."

A few droplets of blood had spattered the window. Seeing us through the glass, Satan leaped and tried to
smash through it.

Whoomp! The glass boomed and shivered with the impact. There were shrieks and screams from the diners,
and several people started to their feet.

At my signal, the string quartet took up their instruments again, and began to play while Satan leaped and tore
and snarled, a perfect avatar of rage and fury. They chose the scherzo from ShostakovichтАЩs piano quintet.

Scherzos are supposed to be funny, but most have a whirlwind, uninhibited quality that makes them particularly
appropriate to nightmares and the madness of predatory dinosaurs.

Whoomp! That mighty head struck the window again and again. For a long time, Satan kept on frenziedly
slashing at the window with its jaws, leaving long scratches in the glass.