"Chalker, Jack L - G.O.D. Inc 1 - Labyrinth of Dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

learned from the same teacher," I noted.
She squinted, then said, "Yeah, that's right. I can't figure this out yet, but
it sure is strange. Every time we figure we're dealin' with one person, we find
two. Every time we figure two people, it looks like one. Don't make no sense at
all."
I handed her the other prize from the junk trove, a crumpled and torn business
card. She examined it carefully, but I had the strange feeling she wasn't
reading it. "Just how bad is your vision?" I asked her.
"Good enough."
"Uh huh. Then read that card."
She sighed. "Okay, so I can't. So I'll blow some of this money on new glasses,
all right?" She handed it back. "Now what's it say?"
"General Ordering and Development, Inc.," I told her. "McInerney, Oregon. Never
heard of the place, but it sure doesn't sound very big. No address. Two phone
numbers, though. One of 'em's been circled, sort of, in old pencil. Funny, too,
there's ho name on the card. Just 'Western Distribution Center.' "
She thought a moment. "Kind of crazy, but that name seems familiar, somehow."
I shrugged. "I wonder if they call it GOD, Inc., around the plant?"
She snapped her fingers. "Yeah! That's it! The Amazing Stork Knife!"
"Huh?"
She was rolling now. "And the Motorized Minnow, and Pet-er-cize, too!"
"Slow down. If you can't manage English, try it phonetically."
She looked excited. "You don't watch enough TV."
"We hocked the TV months ago," I noted.
"Hell, this has been around for years! You know all those ads for all those
crazy junk things that come on in the middle of the late show, or are all over
cable TV? Things like pocket fishing gear, steak knives, and exercisers,
disposable telephones, stuff like that?"
I nodded. "As much as I tried to avoid them, yes."
"Well, right down at the bottom they got to say who's really selling them. Not
the TV station you send the money to or the eight-hundred number you call, but
the real company, down in fine print. They made 'em do that after there were so
many phonies getting into the act. Well, General Ordering and Development is one
of the biggest!"
This was beginning to get interesting. "So they sell a thousand products by
buying cheap, late-night ads from Hong Kong distributors and junk makers. If
this is one of the biggest, then it's a multimillion-dollar company at the very
least. You say it's been around awhile?"
"Years, anyway. They came in with a roar and bought up a bunch of the smaller
outfits who started this whole thing. Why?"
"Well, those companies borrow money to buy the junk in huge quantities, and
those are short-term, high-interest business loans. The bigger you are, the more
banks you need behind you, if only to guard against the inevitable turkeys you
get stuck with and can't fool even the sleepy public into buying. Big banks.
Banks like Tri-State."
Her eyebrows went up. "I see.. . . But why the western division? Why not the
east?"
"It doesn't matter to a bank where it is, so long as it's a good risk, and some
banks at some times have more money to lend at better terms than others that
might be close-by. In these days of quick flights across country and instant