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

sunglasses up onto his forehead. "Do you guys-?"
"Oh, screw yourself, New Guy," says Animal Mother, not looking up.
Mother is holding his M-60 machine gun in his lap and is massaging the black
vanadium steel with a white cloth. "You ain't been in country a week and
already you're saltier than shit. You ain't been born yet, New Guy. Wait
until you got a little T.I., candy ass, and then I may allow you to speak.
Yeah, a little fucking time in."
"Gung ho!" I say, grinning.
Animal Mother says, "Fuck you, Joker." He starts breaking down the
machine gun.
I blow Mother a kiss. Animal Mother is a swine, no doubt about it, but
he's also big and mean; he inspires a certain tolerance.
"Joker thinks he has an outstanding program," Mother tells the New Guy.
"Going to Hollywood after he rotates back to the World. If I don't waste him
first. Going to be Paul fucking Newman. My ass." Animal Mother pulls out a
deck of poker cards. The cards are dog-eared and greasy and have photographs
of Tijuana whores on them. The Tijuana whores are establishing meaningful
relationships with donkeys and big dogs.
Animal Mother deals draw poker hands to himself and to the New Guy.
The New Guy hesitates, then scrapes up his cards.
Animal Mother unbuckles his field pack and pulls out a brown plastic
rack of poker chips-red, white, and blue. Mother takes a stack of plastic
chips from the rack and drops them on the deck in front of the New Guy.
"Where are you from, you little shit?"
"Texas, sir."
"Sir, my ass. This ain't P.I. and there ain't no way I'm gonna be no
fucking officer. Never happen. Ain't even the assistant squad leader
anymore. Now I'm a private-the most popular rank in the Marine Corps. Got
more fucking ops, more confirmed kills, and more T.I. than any grunt in this
squad-including Cowboy." Animal Mother spits, scratches the dark stubble on
his chin. "Flipped a bird to a poge colonel at the big PX on Freedom Hill.
Got me busted from sergeant. I was the fucking platoon sergeant. No slack.
Just like back in the World. Back in Queens I took me a ride in this Lincoln
Continental. It was a beautiful machine. The judge gave me a choice between
the Crotch and hard time in a stone hotel. So I became a mercenary. I should
have gone to prison, New Guy. There's less humping." Animal Mother grins.
"So don't call me that 'sir' shit. Save that lifer shit for poges like the
Joker."
I grin. "Hey, Mother, I'm big but I'm wiry..."
Animal Mother says, "Yeah, I know, you're so tough you bite the heads
off animal crackers." Animal Mother turns to Cowboy: "Hey, Lone Ranger, they
got your little sister in the Crotch. Here she sits, a lean Marine in the
green machine." Turning back to the New Guy: "Our honcho is from Texas, too,
little maggot. Dallas. He wears that Stetson so the gooks will see that they
are dealing with a real Texan lawman."
Cowboy chews. "Play poker, Mother." Cowboy picks up a B-3 unit, a
little can containing John Wayne cookies, cocoa, and pineapple jam. Cowboy
cuts open the can with a little P-38 folding can opener on his dogtag chain.
"I won't say it again."
Silence.