"Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The Final Circle of Paradise (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

sat up.
"What?" he said huskily.
"Who is the owner here?" I said.
He got up and came to me.
"What would you like?"
"I want this Mintz. How much is it?"
The girls giggled. He stared at me in silence, then
removed his glasses.
"You are a foreigner?"
"Yes, I am a tourist."
"It's the most complete Mintz."
"Of course, I can see that. I was stunned when I saw it."
"Me too," he said, "when I saw what you were after."
"He is a tourist," twittered one of the girls. "He doesn't
understand."
"It's all free," said the driver. "Personal needs fund. To
take care of personal needs."
I looked back at the bookshelf.
"Did you see Change of Dream?" asked the driver.
"Yes, thank you, I have it."
"About Strogoff I will not even inquire."
"How about the History of Fascism?"
"An excellent edition."
The girls giggled again. The driver's eyes popped in
sudden wrath.
"Scram, snot faces," he barked.
The girls jumped. One of them thievishly grabbed several
blouse packages. They ran across the street, where they stopped
and continued to gaze at us.
"With frames!" said the driver. His thin lips twitched. "I
should drop this whole idea. Where do you live?"
"On Second Waterway."
"Aha, in the thick of the mire.... Let's go - I will drop
you off. I have a complete Schedrin in the van, which I don't
even exhibit; I have the entire classics library; the whole
Golden Library, the complete Treasures of Philosophic Thought."
"Including Doctor Opir's?"
"Bitch tripe," said the driver. "Salacious bum! Amoeba!
Rut do you know Sliy?"
"Not much," I said. "I don't like him. Neo-individualism,
as Doctor Opir would say."
"Doctor Opir stinks," said the driver. "While Sliy is a
real man. Of course, there is the individualism. But at least
he says what he thinks and does what he says. I'll get some
Sliy for you.... Listen, did you see this? And this!"
He dug himself up to his elbows in books. He stroked them
tenderly and his face shone with rapture.
"And this," he kept on. "And how about this Cervantes?"
An oldish lady of imposing bearing approached and started
to pick over the canned goods.