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

The helmets were not sold, only rented after a short, easy fitting session. Rent of one dollar a month was
collected on the first of the month, and there were over thirty-seven million subscribers. Herb had
bought his own network after the second month when the demand for more hours barred him from
regular television. From a one-hour weekly show it had gone to one hour nightly, and now it was on the
air eight hours a day live, with another eight hours of taped programming.

What had started out as A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ANNE BEAUMONT was now a life in the life of
Anne Beaumont, and the audience was insatiable.

Anne came in then, surrounded by the throng of hangers-on that mobbed her dailyтАФhairdressers,
masseurs, fitters, script men тАж She looked tired. She waved the crowd out when she saw John and Herb
were there. "Hello, John," she said, "Herb."

"Anne, baby, you're looking great!" Herb said. He took her in his arms and kissed her solidly. She stood
still, her hands at her sides.

She was tall, very slender, with wheat-colored hair and gray eyes. Her cheekbones were wide and high,
her mouth firm and almost too large. Against her deep red-gold suntan her teeth looked whiter than John
remembered them. Although too firm and strong ever to be thought of as pretty, she was a very beautiful
woman. After Herb released her, she turned to John, hesitated only a moment, and then extended a slim,
sun-browned hand. It was cool and dry in his.

"How have you been, John? It's been a long time."

He was very glad she didn't kiss him or call him darling. She smiled only slightly and gently removed
her hand from his. He moved to the bar as she turned to Herb.

"I'm through, Herb," she said. Her voice was too quiet. She accepted a whiskey sour from John, but kept
her gaze on Herb.

"What's the matter, honey? I was just watching you, baby. You were great today, like always. You've
still got it, kid. It's coming through like always."

"What about this robbery? You must be out of your mind тАж"

"Yeah, that. Listen, Anne baby, I swear to you I don't know a thing about it. Laughton must have been

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telling you the straight goods on that. You know we agreed that the rest of this week you just have a
good time, remember? That comes over too, baby. When you have a good time and relax, thirty-seven
million people are enjoying life and relaxing. That's good. They can't be stimulated all the time. They
like the variety тАж" Wordlessly John held out a glass, Scotch and water. Herb took it without looking.

Anne was watching him coldly. Suddenly she laughed. It was a cynical, bitter sound. "You're not a damn
fool, Herb. Don't try to act like one." She sipped her drink again, continuing to stare at him over the rim
of the glass. "I am warning you, if anyone shows here to rob me, I'm going to treat him like a real
burglar. I bought a gun after today's broadcast, and I learned how to shoot when I was only nine or ten. I
still know how. I'll kill him, Herb, whoever it is."