"Фредерик Браун. Night of the Jabberwock (англ) " - читать интересную книгу автора

even funnier. He said, "But suppose it was a friend of yours? Your best
friend, say. Carl Trenholm. Would you want him killed just to give the
Clarion a story?"
"Of course not," I said. "Preferably somebody I don't know at all if
there is anybody in Carmel City I don't know at all. Let's make it Yehudi."
"Who's Yehudi?" Pete asked.
I looked at Pete to see if he was kidding me, and apparently he wasn't,
so I explained: "The little man who wasn't there. Don't you remember the
rhyme?

I saw a man upon the stair,
A little man who was not there.
He was not there again today;
Gee, I wish he'd go away."

Pete laughed. "Doc, you get crazier every day. Is that Alice in
Wonderland, too, like all the other stuff you quote when you get drinking?"
"This time, no. But who says I quote Lewis Carroll only when I'm
drinking? I can quote him now, and I've hardly started drinking for tonight
why, as the Red Queen said to Alice, 'One has to do this much drinking to
stay in the same place.' But listen and I'll quote you something that's
really something:
'Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe"

Pete stood up. "Jabberwocky, from Alice Through the Looking-Glass," he
said. "If you've recited that to me once, Doc, it's been a hundred times. I
damn near know it myself. But I got to go, Doc. Thanks for the drink."
"Okay, Pete, but don't forget one thing."
"What's that?"
I said:

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird and shun
The frumious"
Smiley was calling to me, "Hey, Doc!" from over beside the telephone and I
remembered now that I'd heard it ring half a minute before. Smiley yelled,
"Telephone for you, Doc," and laughed as though that was the funniest thing
that had happened in a long time.
I stood up and started for the phone, telling Pete good night en route.
I picked up the phone and said "Hello" to it and it said "Hello" back
at me. Then it said, "Doc?" and I said, "Yes."
Then it said, "Clyde Andrews speaking, Doc." His voice sounded quite
calm. "This is murder."
Pete must be almost to the door by now; that was my first thought. I
said, "Just a second, Clyde," and then jammed my hand over the mouthpiece
while I yelled, "Hey, Pete!"
He was at the door; but he turned.
"Don't go," I yelled at him, the length of the bar. "There's a murder