"Connie Willis - Inside Job" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

Inside Job
Connie Willis
Connie Willis is currently working on a new novel called All Clear. Set in the same time-travel world as
Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, and тАЬFire WatchтАЭ (AsimovтАЩs, February 1982), the novel
involves four historians studying World War II, from the evacuation of the children in 1939 to the Blitz to
the deception war that preceded D-Day. The book will be out in the spring from Bantam. Her latest tale
for AsimovтАЩs takes a look at a psychic debunker, his beautiful assistant, and a very unusual . . .


тАЬNobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.тАЭ
тАФH.L. Mencken

тАЬItтАЩs me, Rob,тАЭ Kildy said when I picked up the phone. тАЬI want you to go with me to see somebody
Saturday.тАЭ

Usually when Kildy calls, sheтАЩs bubbling over with details. тАЬYouтАЩve got to see this psychic cosmetic
surgeon, Rob,тАЭ sheтАЩd crowed the last time. тАЬHis specialty is liposuction, and you can see the tube coming
out of his sleeve. And thatтАЩs not all. The fat heтАЩs supposed to be suctioning out of their thighs is that goop
they use in McDonaldтАЩs milkshakes. You can smell the vanilla! It wouldnтАЩt fool a five-year-old, so of
course half the women in Hollywood are buying it hook, line, and sinker. WeтАЩve got to do a story on
him, Rob!тАЭ

I usually had to say, тАЬKildyтАФKildyтАФKildy!тАЭ before I could get her to shut up long enough to tell me
where he was performing.

But this time all she said was, тАЬThe seminarтАЩs at one oтАЩclock at the Beverly Hills Hilton. IтАЩll meet you in
the parking lot,тАЭ and hung up before I could ask her if the somebody she wanted me to see was a pet
channeler or a vedic-force therapist, and how much it was going to cost.

I called her back.

тАЬThe tickets are on me,тАЭ she said.

If Kildy had her way, the tickets would always be on her, and she can more than afford it. Her fatherтАЩs a
director at Dreamworks, her current stepmother heads her own production company, and her motherтАЩs a
two-time Oscar winner. And KildyтАЩs rich in her own rightтАФshe only acted in four films before she quit
the business for a career in debunking, but one of them was the surprise top grosser of the year, and
sheтАЩd opted for shares instead of a salary.

But sheтАЩs ostensibly my employee, even though I canтАЩt afford to pay her enough to keep her in toenail
polish. The least I can do is spring for expenses, and a barely known channeler shouldnтАЩt be too bad.
Medium Charles Fred, the current darling of the Hollywood set, was only charging two hundred a
seance.

тАЬThe Jaundiced Eye is paying for the tickets,тАЭ I said firmly. тАЬHow much?тАЭ

тАЬSeven hundred and fifty apiece for the group seminar,тАЭ she said. тАЬFifteen hundred for a private
enlightment audience.тАЭ
тАЬThe tickets are on you,тАЭ I said.