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

Cowboy grunts. "Just doing my job, bro, just counting my days." He
smiles. "You know what I did back in the World? After school, I shucked
pennies out of parking meters. I had a red wagon to pour the pennies in, and
I had a blue cap with a silver badge on it. I thought I was hot shit. Now
all I want is a ranch with some horses..."
Animal Mother says, "Well some cunts smell really bad, and Viet Nam
smells really bad, so I say, fuck it. And fuck the lifers who invented it."
"I hear you talking," I say. "I see your lips move. But we all
brown-nose the lifers..."
"That's an amen," says Alice, up the trail. He swats a mosquito away
from his face. "We talk the talk, but we don't walk the walk."
Donlon glares at me. "So who the hell are you? Mahatma Gandhi?" Donlon
aims an index finger at me. "You're honcho of the first fire team, Joker.
That makes you the assistant squad leader. So you're no different. You just
like to feel superior."
"Shit."
"I wouldn't shit you, Joker. You're my favorite turd."
"Fuck...you..."
"Quiet, Joker," says Cowboy. "Somebody's mother might be hiding in the
bush and you're talking dirty. Keep it in the family, okay?"
"Yes. That's affirmative, Cowboy." I look at Donlon. "When Cowboy gives
me the order I'll eat the boogers out of a dead man's nose. I ain't got the
guts to rot in Portsmouth. I admit it. But I don't give orders. I-"
"Bullshit," says Donlon. "You and your fucking peace symbol. Why do you
wear that thing? You're here, same as us. You're no better than we are."
"Look," I say, trying not to lose my temper, "Maybe the Crotch can fuck
me, but I won't spread my own cheeks."
Animal Mother interrupts: "You ain't got a hair on your ass."
My lips are trembling. "Okay, Mother, you can just eat the peanuts out
of my shit. I'm not the author of this farce, I'm just acting out my role.
It's bad luck to wear green on stage but the war must go on. If God had
wanted me to be a Marine I'd have been born with green, baggy skin. You got
that?"
Nobody says anything.
I say, "I'm just a snuffy. A corporal. I don't send anybody out to get
blown away. I know that getting killed over here is a waste of time."
I stand up. I take three steps toward Animal Mother. "You be gung ho,
Mother. You give the orders." I take another step. "But not me!"

Nobody says anything.
Finally the New Guy says softly, "Bet a buck."
Animal Mother looks at me, then starts dropping his chips into the pot
one at a time. "Call...raise you..." Counting...counting. "Five bucks."
The New Guy thinks about it. "I call."
"Oh, Jesus H. Christ!" Animal Mother slaps his cards down hard, bending
them. "Number ten! I ain't got shit."
The New Guy says, "Three jacks." He flashes his cards and rakes up the
pot.
"Hey, Mother," says Donlon, laughing, "that was humble."
Alice says, "You sure bluffed out the New Guy."