"Asprin, Robert - Myth 09 - M.Y.T.H Inc. In Action" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asprin Robert)

I looked around to find Nunzio and the rest of the crew bearin' down on me.

"No big deal, " I shrugs. "We Don't even goon duty until tomorrow. The commander's given us the rest of the day to settle in and check out the town."

"Sounds good to me, " Hy Flie sez, rubbin' his hands together like... Well, like a fly." What say we get something to eat... And at the same time see if we can find a place to hang out on our off -duty hours."

"How about the spaghetti place we passed on the way here?" Spyder sez, jerkin' her head back in the direction they had come from.

I shoot a quick glance at Nunzio, who is already lookin' at me. As so often happens when we're workin' together, we are thinkin' the same thing at the same time, and this time we're both thinkin' that the best way to avoid runnin' into someone with mob connections is by not usin' a spaghetti place for a base of operations.

"Ah... let's see if we can find someplace less likely... I mean, closer." I suggest, casual-like.

"Well, how 'bout we try right here?" Nunzio chimes in, pickin' up on my general train of thought.

I look where he is pointin', and have to admit that it is probably the last place someone from the mob would think of lookin' for us. The sign over the door of the joint reads, ABDUL'S SUSHI BAR AND BAIT SHOP.

"Sushi?" Shu Flie scowls." You mean like raw fish?"

"At least we know it's fresh, " Junebug sez, gesturin' at the second part of the sign.

"Oh, Don't be a bunch of babies " Spyder grins, givin' Shu a poke in the ribs. "Wait' til you've tried it. It's good! Come on."

Now, I am no more enthusiastic than the Flie brothers about eatin' this stuff, even though Nunzio has been after me for some time to give it a try. I mean, I'm used to fish in a tomato sauce or somethin', served with pasta-not rice. Still, there seems little option than to follow Spyder and Nunzio as they merrily lead the way in to the place.

"Ah! Members of our noble fighting forces!" the proprietor sez, slitherin' up out of the dim depths to greet us. "Plea se, come right in. We give special discounts for our men... And ladies... In uniform!"

"Can we have a table close to the window so's there's more light?" Nunzio sez, giving me a wink.

I know what he is thinkin' and normally would app rove. The proprietor is makin' me feel a little uneasy, however. Despite his toothy smile, I have a strong feelin' he can tell within a few pieces of small change how much money our crew is carryin'... And is already tryin' to figure how much of it he can glom onto before we escape. In short, I haven't felt this sized up by a merchant since we left the bazaar at Deva. Despite my growin' discomfort, I join the crew as the proprietor ushers us to a window table and distributes menus. Everybody gives their drink orders, then start porin' over the menus with Spyder and Junebug servin' as interpreters... everyone except Nunzio, that is. Ignorin' his menu co MPletely, my cousin down fishin' around his belt pouch.

"While we're here, anyone care for a couple quick hands of dragon Poker?" he sez innocent-like, producin' a deck of cards and a battered, dog-eared book.

The whole crew groans at this, a sure indication of their familiarity with the game, which is not surprisin' as Nunzio and me have been takin' great pains to teach it to 'em. Despite their apparent reluctance, however, I notice that their stakes money appears on the table in a quick ripple of movement, which is in it self a testimony to the addictin' nature of this particular pastime. I can speak from my own experience in sayin' that there is no thin' like watchin' a pot you've built on a nice hand disappear in to someone el se's stack because of some obscure-type conditional modifier to convince a new player that it is definitely in his best interest to learn more about the game as it is his only chance of winnin' some of his money back, much less show a profit. That is, you play your first game of dragon Poker for the fun of it, and after that youse is playin' for revenge.

"Okay... Ante up!" Nunzio sez, givin' the cards a quick shuffle and offerin' the deck for a cut.

"not so fast, cousin, " I interrupts, fishin' my own copy of the rulebook out. "First, let's settle what the conditional modifiers are."

"Why bother?" Shue Flie grimaces. "They change every day."

"Every day? You mean every hour!" his brother sez.

"Whatever," Spyder shrugs. "Start dealing Nunzio. Swatter here can fill us in on the high points."

For those of youse unfamiliar with dragon Poker, it is a very popular means of redistributin' wealth throughout the dimensions. You can think of it as nine card stud poker with six card hands... that is, if you Don't mind gettin' your brains beat out financially. You see, on top of the normal rules of ca rd playin', there are conditional modifiers which can change the value of a card or hand dependin' on the dimension, hour of the day, number of players, position at the table, or any one of a multitude of other factors, makin' Dragon Poker the most difficult and confusin' card game in all the dimensions.

Nunzio and me got fascinated by dis game whilst everyone was tryin' to teach it to the boss in time for his big match with the Sen-Sen Ante kid, and it isn't really all that hard... providin' one had a copy of the rules applicable to the dimension youse is in at the time. (Of course, the boss couldn't use a book durin' the big match, as he was supposed to be an ex pert already.) before leavin' the bazaar for this particular caper, both Nunzio and me included pickin' up copies of the rulebook for Klah (our home dimension where dis narration is takin' place ) as part of our preparations. If youse perhaps think that buying two copies of the rule- book is a needless expense, let me give youse a free tip about playin' Dragon Poker : Your best defense at the table is havin' your own copy of the rules. Youse see, one of the standin' rules in any Dragon Poker game is that the players are individually responsible for knowin' the conditional modifiers. Put simply, this means that if you Don't know a particular modifie

" Lets see, " I sez, thumbin' through the book, "the sun is out... And we're playin' indoors..."