"Roger Zelazny - Amber Chronicles, The 08 - Sign of Chaos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zelazny Roger)

Roger Zelazny. Sign of chaos

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Roger Zelazny
THE AMBER CHRONICLES - BOOK EIGHT
SIGN OF CHAOS
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CHAPTER 1

I felt vaguely uneasy, though I couldn't say why. It did not seem all
that unusual to be drinking with a White Rabbit, a short guy who resembled
Bertrand Russell, a grinning Cat, and my old friend Luke Raynard, who was
singing Irish ballads while a peculiar landscape shifted from mural to
reality at his back. Well, I was impressed by the huge blue Caterpillar
smoking the hookah atop the giant mushroom because I know how hard it is to
keep a water pipe lit. Still, that wasn't it. It was a convivial scene, and
Luke was known to keep pretty strange company on occasion. So why should I
feel uneasy?
The beer was good and there was even a free lunch. The demons
tormenting the red-haired woman tied to the stake had been so shiny they'd.
hurt to look at. Gone now, but the whole thing had, been beautiful.
Everything was beautiful. When Luke sang of Galway Bay it had been so
sparkling and lovely that I'd wanted to dive in and lose myself there. Sad,
too.
Something to do with the feeling. . . . Yes. Funny thought. When Luke
sang a sad song I felt melancholy. When it was a happy one I was greatly
cheered. There seemed an unusual amount of empathy in the air. No matter, I
guess. The light. show was superb. . . .
I sipped my drink and watched Humpty teeter, there at the end of the
bar. For a moment I tried to remember when I'd come into this place, but
that cylinder wasn't hitting. It would come to me, eventually. Nice
party....
I watched and listens and tasted and felt, and it was all great.
Anything that caught my attention was fascinating. Was there something I'd
wanted to ask Luke? It seemed there was, but he was busy singing and I
couldn't think of it now, anyway.
What had I been doing before I'd come into this place? Trying to recall
just didn't seem worth the effort either. Not when everything was so
interesting right here and now.
It seemed that it might have been something important, though. Could
that be why I felt uneasy? Might it be there was business I had left
unfinished and should be getting back to?
I turned to ask the Cat but he was fading again, still seeming vastly
amused. It occurred to me then that I, too, could do that. Fade, I mean; and
go someplace else. Was that how I had come here and how I might depart?
Possibly. I put down my drink and rubbed my eyes and my temples. Things
seemed to be swimming inside my head, too.
I suddenly recalled a picture of me. On a giant card. A Trump. Yes.