"Ian Watson - Lambert, Lambert" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watson Ian)

Lambert!тАЭ тАЬLambkin Lambert.тАЭ тАЬWhere are you, Lambkin?тАЭ She stopped that caper
as soon as I started fattening up. Problem with the glands, right? Soon I became
bloated Bert, who got bullied at school. ThatтАЩs what makes me sensitive; thatтАЩs how
I can sympathize with people like you. Then I got a bit too big to bully.

Mum actually took the name from an old ency-clopedia that was lying around.
Chap called Lam-bert Simnel attempted to seize the throne of Britain back in the time
of Henry the Seventh; he got chopped for his pains. Lambert Simnel was named
after a Saint Lambert, a Billy Graham type who also got the chop. Belgium has lots
of churches in his honour. Belgium: mayonnaise and chips. I know things, see. ItтАЩs
the company I keep.

Not a very good track record so far for Lam-berts? Mum didnтАЩt care much
about history; it was the little lamb aspect that appealed to her. She was like that: of
diminished I.Q. Dad too, I sup-pose, though he must have been a bit brighter
because he pissed off. Presumably I get my brains from him. SimnelтАЩs some kind of
kraut cake. Very fattening. I used to eat a fair whack of rich stodgy cake when I was
a kid. I donтАЩt now. IтАЩm very strin-gent about my diet.

Stop twitching, will you? WonтАЩt do any good. Think about the word lam.
Means to thump, to trash. ThatтАЩs what goes on inside the wire. Beat-ings. My fellow
goons like to cut a prisoner out of the herd now and then and work him over. At
ran-dom, when the fancy takes them. Nothing systematic. If starving doesnтАЩt get
you, a thumping might. YouтАЩre finished after that.

Commander doesnтАЩt mind. Relieves the strain. TheyтАЩre all missing persons in
there, to begin with. If someone becomes more missing, who cares? He certainly
hasnтАЩt done a runner. No inmate gets through the high-voltage wire or the auto-guns.
So, pal, you wonтАЩt be missed. No oneтАЩs looking for you.

I mean, that applies across the board to all the prisoners. They can forget any
silly notion of help from some other country тАФ which is where it would need to
come from. From America or Rus-sia. But every countryтАЩs in a mess. Sea level,
eco-nomic collapse, heat, famine; need I go on? We have this country sewed up
tight for a long time to come. Count your blessings. I feel sorry for people like you.

тАЬLamтАЭ also means to escape, to beat it. YouтАЩre on the lam now. Thanks to
me.

All comes down to names, doesnтАЩt it?

I was working as a debt collector in Leicester. See, I could intimidate people.
ThatтАЩs where I dis-covered about my namesake and felt such a strong yen to join the
penal service. Not surpris-ing, huh? Best job these days. So many nuisances being
rounded up. Pinkos. Greens. Poofters and wogs. Domeheads and arty-farties. All
the stir-rers. Got to belt up about stuff like freedom and politics and art if this
countryтАЩs going to survive the greenhouse. DoesnтАЩt really require as much exertion
as sticking oneтАЩs bod in some pensionerтАЩs doorway; not with all the control
equipment at our disposal. If goons want to work up a sweat thrashing a detainee,
thatтАЩs their business. I donтАЩt join in. Other fish to fry. Not that IтАЩm easily ex-hausted,