"Kate Wilhelm - Baby, You Were Great" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

Herb got up, turned on the lights in the room, and the window blanked out, blending with the wall,
making it invisible. He didn't look at John. When he wiped his face, his hand was shaking. He rammed it
in his pocket.

"When did you start auditions like that?" John asked, after a few moments of silence.

"Couple of months ago. I told you about it. Hell, we had to, Johnny. That's the six hundred nineteenth
girl we've tried out! Six hundred nineteen! All phonies but one! Dead from the neck up. Do you have
any idea how long it was taking us to find that out? Hours for each one. Now it's a matter of minutes."

John Lewisohn sighed. He knew. He had suggested it, actually, when he had said, "Find a basic anxiety
situation for the test." He hadn't wanted to know what Herb had come up with.

He said, "Okay, but she's only a kid. What about her parents, legal rights, all that?"

"We'll fix it. Don't worry. What about Anne?"

"She's called me five times since yesterday. The sharks were too much. She wants to see us, both of us,
this afternoon."

"You're kidding! I can't leave here now!"

"Nope. Kidding I'm not. She says no plug up if we don't show. She'll take pills and sleep until we get
there."

"Good Lord! She wouldn't dare!"

"I've booked seats. We take off at twelve thirty-five." They stared at one another silently for another
moment, then Herb shrugged. He was a short man, not heavy but solid. John was over six feet, muscular,
with a temper that he knew he had to control. Others suspected that when he did let it go, there would be
bodies lying around afterward, but he controlled it.

Once it had been a physical act, an effort of body and will to master that temper; now it was done so
automatically that he couldn't recall occasions when it even threatened to flare any more.

"Look, Johnny, when we see Anne, let me handle it. Right?" Herb said. "I'll make it short."

"What are you going to do?"

"Give her an earful. If she's going to start pulling temperament on me, I'll slap her down so hard she'll
bounce a week." He grinned happily. "She's had it all her way up to now. She knew there wasn't a
replacement if she got bitchy. Let her try it now. Just let her try." Herb was pacing back and forth with
quick, jerky steps.

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John realized with a shock that he hated the stocky, red-faced man. The feeling was new, it was almost