"Gustav Hasvord. The Short-Timers " - читать интересную книгу автора

rain out.
We lie on our racks and swap scuttlebutt. On the ceiling, the combat
correspondent's motto in six-inch block letters: FIRST TO GO, LAST TO KNOW,
WE WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH OUR RIGHT TO BE MISINFORMED.
Mr. Payback performs his sea stories for Rafter Man: "The only
difference between a sea story and a fairy tale is that a fairy tale begins
with 'Once upon a time...' and a sea story begins with 'This is no shit.'
Well, New Guy, listen up, because this is no shit. January orders me to play
Monopoly. All fucking day. Every day of the fucking week. There's nothing
lower than a lifer. They fuck me over, man, but I don't say a word. I do not
say a word. Payback is a motherfucker, New Guy. Remember that. When Luke the
gook zaps you in the back and Phantoms bury him in napalm canisters, that's
payback. When you shit on people it comes back to you, sooner or later, only
worse. My whole program is a mess because of lifers. But Payback will come,
sooner or later. I'd walk a mile for a payback."
I laugh. "Payback, you hate lifers because you are a lifer."
Mr. Payback lights up a joint. "You're the one who's tight with the
lifers, Joker. Lifers take care of their own."
"Negative. The lifers are afraid to talk to me, I got so many ops."
"Operations? Shit." Mr. Payback turns to Rafter Man. "Joker thinks that
the bad bush is down the road in the ville. He's never been in the shit.
It's hard to talk about it. Like on Hastings-"
Chili Vendor interrupts: "You weren't on Operation Hastings, Payback.
You weren't even in country."
"Oh, eat shit and die, you fucking Spanish American. You poge. I was
there, man. I was in the shit with the grunts, man. Those guys have got
guts, you know? They are very hard individuals. When you've been in the shit
with grunts you're tight with them from then on, you know?"
I grunt. "Sea stories."
"Oh, yeah? How long have you been in country, Joker? Huh? How much T.I.
you got? How much fucking time in? Thirty months, poge. I got thirty months
in country. I been there, man."
I say, "Don't listen to any of Mr. Payback's bullshit, Rafter Man.
Sometimes he thinks he's John Wayne."
"That's affirmative," says Mr. Payback. "You listen to Joker, New Guy.
He knows ti ti-very little. And if he ever does know anything it'll be
because he learned it from me. You just know he's never been in the shit. He
ain't got the stare."
Rafter Man looks up. "The what?"
"The thousand-yard stare. A Marine gets it after he's been in the shit
for too long. It's like you've really seen...beyond. I got it. All field
Marines got it. You'll have it, too."
Rafter Man says, "I will?"
Mr. Payback takes a few hits off the joint and then passes it to Chili
Vendor. "I used to be an atheist, when I was a New Guy, a long time ago..."
Mr. Payback takes his Zippo lighter out of his shirt pocket and hands it to
Rafter Man. "See? It says, 'You and me, God-right?'" Mr. Payback giggles. He
seems to be trying to focus his vision on some distant object. "Yes, nobody
is an atheist in a foxhole. You'll be praying."
Rafter Man looks at me, grins, hands the lighter back to Mr. Payback.