"Robert F. Young - The Worlds of Robert F. Young" - читать интересную книгу автора (Young Robert F)

model."
Mr. Kroll needed no more encouragement. He began with a discourse on the cabinet, describing
where the wood bad been cut, how it had been cured, shaped, worked, polished, and fitted together;
then he went into a mass of technical details about the chassis, the inbuilt antenna, the high-fidelity
speakerтАФ
Suddenly Henry realized that the paper that had somehow got into his left hand was a contract and
that the object that had somehow slipped into his right was a fountain pen. "Wait a minute," he said.
"Wait a minute] I can't afford anything like this. We were just lookтАФ"
"How do you know you can't afford it?тАЭ Mr. Krull asked reasonably. "I haven't even mentioned the
price yet?
"Then don't bother mentioning it. It's bound to be too high:"
"You might find it too high, and then again you might not. It's a rather relative figure. But even if you
do find it too high, I'm sure the terms will be agreeable."
"All right," Henry said. "What are the terms?"
Mr. Kroll smiled, rubbed the palms of his hands together. "One," he said, "the set is guaranteed for
life. Two, you get a lifetime supply of popcorn. Three, you pay nothing down. Four, you pay no weekly,
monthly, quarterly, or annual installmentsтАФ"
"Are you giving it to us?" Janice's hazel eyes were incredulous.
'Well, not exactly. You have to pay for itтАФon one condition."
"Condition? Henry asked.
"On the condition that you come into a certain amount of money."
"How much money?"
"One million dollars," Mr. Krull said.
Janice swayed slightly. Henry took a deep breath, blew it out slowly. "And the price?"
"Come now, sir. Surely you know what the price is by now. And surely you know who I am by
now."
For a while Henry and Janice just stood there. Mr. Krull's widow's peak seemed more pronounced
than ever, and there was a hint of mockery in his smile. For the first time, and with something of a shock,
Henry realized that his ears were pointed.
Finally he got his tongue loose from the roof of his mouth. "You're not, you can't beтАФ"
"Mr. Baal? Of course not! I'm merely one of his representativesтАФthough, in this instance, 'dealer'
would be a more appropriate term."
There was a long pause. Then: "BothтАФboth our souls? Henry asked.
"Naturally," Mr. Kalil said. "The terms are generous enough to warrant both of them, don't you think?
... Well, what do you say, sir? Is it a deal?"
Henry began backing through the doorway. Janice backed with him, though not with quite the same
alacrity.

Mr. Krull shrugged philosophically. "See you later then," he said.
Henry followed Janice into their apartment and closed the door. "I can't believe it," he said. "It
couldn't have happened!"
"It happened all right," Janice said. "I can still taste the popcorn. You just don't want to believe it,
that's all You're afraid to believe it."
"Maybe you're right. . . ."
Janice fixed supper, and after supper they sat in the living room and watched Gunfire, Feud,
Shoot-'em-Up Henessey, and the news, on the old beat-up TV set they'd bought two years ago when
they were married to tide them over till they could afford a better one. After the news, Janice made
popcorn in the kitchen and Henry opened two bottles of beer.
The popcorn was burned. Janice gagged on the first mouthful, pushed her bowl away. "You know, I
almost think it would be worth it," she said. "Imagine, all you have to do is turn a dial and you can have