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

"Not that sweet," Frumple amends, hastily. "Still, it helps pay the rent."

"Okay. I think we can settle for drinks and food," I shrugs. "Come on out front, Frumple, and I'll let you buy me a drink to show there's no hard feelin's."

" You're too kind, " the Deveel grumbles, but he follows me out of the office.

"I think cha MPagne would be appropriate to seal our agreement, Don't you?" I sez. "White cha MPagne."

"White cha MPagne?"

"Of course," I smiles, glad for a chance to show off my knowledge and culture. "This here is a sushi bar, ain't it? You think I Don't know what color cha MPagne to have with fish?"

Chapter Nine:

"Manners are acquired, not inherited!"
S. Penn

Things are pretty sweet for a while after I make our arrangement with Frumple. The reduced costs of our off -hour drinkin' are a real boon on the scut wages the army is payin' us, and the Deveel sure had the right of it when he said his sushi bar was a happy huntin' grounds when it came to broads. Of course, 'broads' is perhaps a misnomenclature for the type of women what hang out at this establishment evenings. These was not the usual gum-snappin, vacant-eyed skirts we are used to associatin' with, but rather the classy, fashion-wise young female executive with a lot on the ball what normally wouldn't give lunks like us the time of day. It seems that once we invaded the sanctuary of these upwardly mobile females, however, they was open-minded enough to give us serious consideration in their own deliberations. While I will not try to comment on which of these two types of females actually makes for better co MPanions, there are things to be said for each... though not all those things are co MPlimentary.

There are two Flies which mar our enjoyment of this ointment, however, and here I am not referrin' to the Flie brothers. First, there is the ever-present danger of runnin' in to someone from the mob, as Frumple's comments have confirmed our suspicion that they maintain some kind of presence here. Second, there is the annoyin' detail that we are supposed to be working on an assignment, not havin' a good time. Naturally, this is the subject of no small amount of conversation between Nunzio and me.

"The trouble is, we can't really do a good job of disruptin' without movin' around town," I was sayin' durin' one such discussion, "and if we move around town, then the odds of our runnin' into someone from the mob goes way up!"

"Then we'll have to see what we can stir up from right here," my cousin sez. "When you stop to think about it, this is a pretty good set up for it... Makin' trouble, I mean. Most of these women have husbands at home, and even the ones that Don't have sufficient standing in the community that if it comes to an altercation, the local authorities will have to take her side of it."

"Why do you say that? I mean, why should messin' with these broads cause any more hassle than any others?"

Instead of answerin' right away, Nunzio leans back and gives me the hairy eyeball for a few minutes. "Guido," he says at last, "are you tryin' to be stupid just to get a rise out of me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you yourself said that our commander told us that it was okay if we messed with bimbos, but to leave the respect able women alone. Yet now that I am tryin' to put together a specific course of action, you are actin' like it is a brand-new concept to you."

"It just seems to me that it is a revoltin' form of class bias and bigotry," I sez, "assumin' that a woman's respectability is a matter of her financial standin' and education. Wouldn't it be better if it were the other way around? I mean, if a woman's respect ability determined where she stood in the financial order instead of the other way around?"

"There are two problems with that," Nunzio sez. "First of all, the same unfair standard is applied to men as well... Meanin' it holds for everyone, not just women. Them what is rich and educated is always deemed more respectable... If for no other reason than they wield more power and pay more taxes."

"That's true," I sez, noddin' thoughtful- like.

"The second problem is that it's co MPletely off the subject of what we was discussin'... Which is to say how to cause disruption."

"It is?"

"What is more, any time you try to start a philosophical discussion with me, it is to be taken as a sure sign that you are deliberately tryin' to divert my attention... As normally you avoid such conversations like a subpoena."

I say no thin' when he pauses, as he seems to have me cold. I had been tryin' to change the subject.

"All of this, the at te MPt at stupidity and the lame effort at philosophical discussion, leads me to believe that for some reason you are stalling and do not wish to commence working on our assignment. Am I right?"