"Lester Del Rey - The Pipes of Pan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Del Rey Lester)

choosing.

"Have a beer?"

"Why not?" As an after-thought, he added an ungodlike thanks. The man was likable, he decided, though
friendship among city men was not what he had expected. "You wouldn't know about work in this city,
would you—uh?"

"Bob Bailey."

"Men call me Pan—or Faunus, sometimes."

"Pan Faunus, eh? Tried the want ads yet, or the employment agencies?" Bailey pulled a folded paper
from his pocket and handed it over. "There might be a job in the back there. What kind of work?"

"Whatever I can do." He began at the bottom and skimmed up the list from xylophone players to
bartenders. "But nothing they have here. I'm supposed to be good at herding and playing the syrinx, but
that's about all."

"Syrinx?" He inspected the instrument Pan held out, and amusement danced in his eyes. "Oh, that.
Afraid it wouldn't do, Mr. Faunus. You don't happen to play the clarinet?"

"Never tried it."

"Then you don't. I'm looking for someone who does, right now, for my band— Bob Bailey's
Barnstormers. Ever heard of it? Well, you're not the only one. Since we lost the best daradest clarinetist
in the business, we've slipped plenty. Playing the third-rate spots now with the substitute we had to hire.
Corny? Wheoo! He used to be on the Lady Lee Lullaby hour, and never got over it."

"Why not get a good one then?" The talk made little sense to the god, but the solution seemed obvious.

"Where? We get plenty of applicants—there's an ad in there now. But they'd either soothe the jitterbugs
to sleep or rattle the strings off the dog house. Not a good clear tone in the bunch. All the good guys are
signed up, or starting their own outfits."

file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswi...r/Lester%20Del%20Rey%20-%20The%20Pipes%20of%20Pan.txt (6 of 13)22-2-2006 1:20:32
 file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswijk/Mijn%20documenten/spaar/Lester%20Del%20Rey%20-%20The%20Pipes%20of%20Pan.txt



They finished the beers and Pan counted out the amount marked on his ticket, estimating the length of
time what was left would last; two days maybe, by going half hungry. He grunted. "Where are these
employment agencies you mentioned?"

"One just down the street. It's a United States' employment center, and won't try to rob you. Good luck,
Faunus."

"And to you. My thanks for the beer." Then they separated, and Pan headed down the street toward the
mecca of the jobless. The ads had all called for training of some sort, but there must be other work in
this town that needed no previous experience. Perhaps meeting two friendly men in one day was a good