"Lawrence Watt - Evans - Foxy Lady" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

Foxy Lady
by Lawrence Watt-Evans
This story copyright 1992 by Lawrence Watt-Evans.This copy was created for Jean Hardy's personal
use.All other rights are reserved. Thank you for honoring the copyright.

Published by Seattle Book Company, www.seattlebook.com.

* * *


Al stared at the board, trying to concentrate, trying not to sweat.
"This one's for the grand prize, folks!" the MC announced, in those infuriatingly jovial tones he did so
well. He gestured in the general direction of the display. "Are you ready, Al?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," Al replied, trying to sound as if he were having fun, rather than struggling to
hold down his lunch.
Watching at home, he thought, you never saw how nervous the contestants were, or how small the
studio was, or how that stupid board was knocked together out of plywood and cheap laminate.
"Then you have thirty seconds-- go!"
The central two screens lit up.
People. They were faces, two men.
"Presidents," he said, recognizing Ronald Reagan and John Kennedy. Kennedy disappeared, replaced
by Marilyn Monroe. "Movie stars." Reagan vanished, replaced by Madonna. "Blondes."
"Try again," the MC called.
"Sex symbols, actresses..."
Monroe disappeared, and a new face he couldn't identify replaced her, a vaguely familiar male face
with long hair and wire-rimmed glasses.
"Singers," he guessed.
Madonna was replaced by Kennedy. If he could figure this one out he'd be all the way around the
circle and would win, but he couldn't figure out who the guy in the glasses was. A singer? Connected with
Kennedy?
"Ten seconds," the MC said.
He'd seen the face, he knew he had. The hairstyle gave him a clue.
"The sixties," he guessed.
"Try again."
He tried to think. What was Kennedy noted for? "Uh... assassination victims?"
A bell rang and the studio audience burst into cheers.
"Congratulations, Al Roebuck!" the MC announced, coming forward to clap him on the back. "You've
won the grand prize! Bill, tell Al what he's won!"
John Lennon, Al realized, that's who it was. He turned, a bit dazed.
"From the New Gene Corporation," the announcer said, as the pale blue curtains parted, "She's
friendly, intelligent, and beautiful, and she's all yours! She's their top-of-the-line model, carefully cloned
and hand-raised from a kit, every gene selected and tailored to make her the perfect household
companion and servant. She's the New Gene Corporation's Mark Five Vixen, Salome!"
Al stared.
"Yes, made from the germ plasm of the common fox, the Mark Five Vixen is fluent in both English and
Spanish, and trained to perform a wide variety of common household chores, from mopping floors to
massaging backs. With a life expectancy of seventy-five years, she should last you a lifetime. She has a
retail value of six hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but, Al Roebuck, she's all yours, for playing Missing
Links!"
 "Wow," Al said, still staring.