"Martha Wells - Bad Medicine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wells Martha)

Murphey came through the door from the back staircase. Ben looked a little like a younger Burl Ives and
a little like Santa Claus, but the resemblance ended before it reached his personality. He glared at Mac.
"Do you know that we have a wedding for sixty-five people to pull off in under a week?"
"Am I blind? Am I deaf? Of course I know," Mac retorted. He said to the boy, "Tell him your story."
When he hesitated, Mac added, "Oh, he'll listen all right."

Ben's eyes narrowed at the implied threat, but he sat down at the table anyway. The boy took a deep
breath and said, "My name is Anthony Rivera. I did a very dumb thing. Six months ago I paid a witch
who lives in Albuquerque 30 dollars to make me a star basketball player. And now.... Now the witch
says I owe more. I said I would get a job and pay more money, but the witch wants me to... To kill my
sister. I said no, I won't do that, nobody can make me do that. So the witch is going to kill me, and I
think something bad's going to happen to my sister anyway. She's only three." He looked down at the
table, cheeks darkening with embarrassment.

"You're right." Ben sighed. "That was a dumb thing to do. Kids today.... There's always a catch in these
deals. Don't you listen to your granny?" He picked up the antique crystal salt shaker and turned it around
on the table thoughtfully. Mac knew that what he was actually doing was examining the boy's reflection in
the facets, as he had examined it himself in the mirror above the entryway. No, you couldn't be too
careful these days. Satisfied, Ben put the shaker down and said, "You sign a paper with this witch?"

"No." Anthony looked up, brightening. "Is that good?" Ben shrugged. "Wouldn't matter if you had. I was
just curious. You couldn't bargain your sister's life away if you wanted to. It isn't yours to give. Did you
see an improvement in your basketball playing?"

"Yes, I made the team in my school, and we won our first two games."

"Anything spectacular? Anything that couldn't be explained by the fact that you probably practice your
brains out?"

"Well.... No, not really. And I do play every night almost at the YMCA."

"I think his witch is a con artist," Ben said, looking over at Mac.

"I don't know." Mac shook his head. "Why threaten the sister?"

"A play for more money."

"He offered more money."

"So she's a sick con artist." "He," Anthony corrected. "It's a man." "He's a sick con artist."

"He has a witch bundle that talks in his house," the boy offered.

"Did you see it?" Ben asked.

"Yes." "So he's a con artist with talent. I'll go down to Albuquerque and kick his ass, and he'll leave you
alone." "No," Mac said slowly, thinking of the hiker up in the pass. "I think I'll go."

Ben's jaw dropped. "The wedding--"