"Arcady And Boris Strugatsky. Prisoners of Power" - читать интересную книгу автора The woman sprang out from behind the counter, flew over to Maxim, and
planted herself in front of him. She grabbed him by his shirt and rummaged through his pockets. Maxim was so stunned that he didn't resist, but only repeated "Must not" and looked plaintively at Rada. The old woman, behaving as though she had suddenly come to a fateful decision, rushed back behind the counter and grabbed the telephone. "Fank!" said Maxim with emotion. "Fank hurt! Go. Bad." The tension broke suddenly. Rada said something to the old woman that convinced her to put down the phone. She sputtered a bit more, then calmed down. Rada sat Maxim down again, served him a fresh mug of beer, and to his delight and relief joined him. For a while everything went smoothly. Rada asked questions, and Maxim, beaming with pleasure, answered them with "I don't understand." Maxim laboriously constructed another sentence and declared: "Rain, massaraksh, bad, fog." Rada broke out laughing. Then another girl arrived and greeted them. Rada and she left the room, and after a while Rada re-turned, but without her apron. She was wearing a bright red cape and carrying a large handbag. "Let's go," she said, and Maxim jumped up. They were unable to leave immediately. The old woman began to shout again. She was angry about something, demanding some-thing. She waved a pen and sheet of paper in the air. Rada argued with her for a while, but the other girl came over and took the woman's side. Rada finally relented. Then the three of them con-fronted Maxim. At first they repeated the same question, singly and then in chorus, which Maxim, of course, didn't understand. At last Rada ordered everyone to keep quiet; she clapped Maxim "Mac Sim?" "Maxim," he corrected her. "Max? Im?" "Maxim. Max - must not. Im - must not. Maxim." Rada brought her finger to the tip of her nose and said, "Rada Gaal. Maxim." "Gaal?" he said. "Guy Gaal?" Dead silence. They were stunned. "Guy Gaal," repeated Maxim, overjoyed. "Guy good man." Suddenly there was a commotion as the women all began to talk at once. Rada tugged at Maxim and asked something. Obviously she was terribly interested in learning how he knew Guy. "Guy, Guy, Guy" bobbed up in a stream of incomprehensible words. "Massaraksh!" said the old woman as she burst into laughter. And the girls joined in. Rada took Maxim by the arm, and they went out into the rain. They walked to the end of a poorly lit side street and turned into an even dimmer lane where rickety wooden houses lined a muddy road paved with uneven cobblestones. Then they made two more turns. The narrow crooked streets were deserted. Not a single pedestrian was out. At first Rada chattered animatedly, repeating Guy's name frequently. Maxim interjected occasionally that Guy was a fine per-son, but added in Lingcos that one should not beat people in the face, that this was a strange |
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