Оглавление
Dr. Donald D. Hook. Twenty Unusual Short Stories
Dedication
Preface
One. Road Rage
Two. An Untoward Couple
Three. A Man and His Dog
Four. Pank
Five. Hadrons and Strangelets
Six. Presidential Elections
Seven. Thrill Hollow
Eight. Johnson
Nine. Integrator of Opposites
Ten. Dealers in Life and Death
Eleven. Football
Twelve. The Rapture
Thirteen. Soaring on Angel Wings
Fourteen. Quandary
Fifteen. Disappearance
Sixteen. A Workable Allegory
Seventeen. Neutralization of the Emergency Room
Eighteen. Backlash (or Backfire?)
Nineteen. Diversity
Twenty. Entrances to the Hereafter
About the Author
Отрывок из книги
For my little pal, Amethyst Mist, better known simply as Misty, a genuine high-class, violet-pointed, 11-year-old Birman lady cat, who lies in her chair next to mine, while I operate the word processor, and occasionally offers good suggestions by treading on the keyboard.
Buford was at the wheel, a full can of beer between his ample piano-like legs. Trucks the age of his were not equipped with fancy cup-holders like the newer versions. When asked by friends why he didn’t buy a new truck, he always answered that this one was running fine and if it should falter, he could fix it free with spare parts in his garage. What little money Buford made as a mechanic was spent frivolously almost as soon as it reached his pocket. His mother used to say she never had to mend his pockets because the weight of coins never made any holes in them. She claimed that the same was true of the paper money he carried in a wallet in his hip pocket; there was no bulge for long, and thus his pocket showed no sign of wear. He thought that was sort of funny, but his personality dictated no subtleties. What others thought was funny, he usually took seriously. Anything truly serious he discarded.
.....
Although neither Buford nor James Alfred was given to philosophizing about anything, they must have somehow sensed that Evil was about to enter the picture, for when the girls did not return from their woodsy pissoir after 15 minutes, they looked at each other in puzzlement. Buford was the first to speak. “Do you think we’d better go look for them? They’ve been gone a lot longer than necessary.”
“Yeah, maybe they’re lost,” volunteered James Alfred, whose mind was tumbling with possibilities.
.....
