"H. L. Gold - Trouble With Water" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gold H. L)

touch alcohol, you know. Try drawing a glass of beer—"
Greenberg trudged obediently behind the bar and held a glass under the spigot. Suddenly h
despondent face brightened. Beer creamed into the glass—and stayed there! Mike and Esth
grinned at each other as Greenberg threw back his head and furiously drank.
"Mike!" he crowed. "I'm saved. You got to drink with me!"
"Well—" Mike protested feebly.
By late afternoon, Esther had to close the concession and take her husband and Mike to t
hotel.
The following day, being Saturday, brought a flood of rain. Greenberg nursed an imposin
hangover that was constantly aggravated by his having to drink beer in order to satisfy h
recurring thirst. He thought of forbidden icebags and alkaline drinks in an agony of longing.
"I can't stand it!" he groaned. "Beer for breakfast—phooey!"
"It's better than nothing, " Esther said fatalistically.
"So help me, I don't know if it is. But, darling, you ain't mad at me on account of Sammie, a
you? "
She smiled gently, "Poo! Talk dowry and he'll come back quick."
 "That's what I thought. But what am I going to do about my curse?"

Cheerfully, Mike furled an umbrella and strode in with a little old woman, whom he introduc
as his mother. Greenberg enviously saw evidence of the effectiveness of icebags and alkali
drinks, for Mike had been just as high as he the day before.
"Mike told me about you and the gnome," the old lady said. "Now I know the Little Folk we
and I don't hold you to blame for insulting him, seeing you never met a gnome before. But
suppose you want to get rid of your curse. Are you repentant?"
Greenberg shuddered. "Beer for breakfast! Can you ask?" "Well, just you go to this lake an
give the gnome proof." "What kind of proof?" Greenberg asked eagerly.
"Bring him sugar. The Little Folk love the stuff—"
Greenberg beamed. "Did you hear that, Esther? I'll get a barrel—"
"They love sugar, but they can't eat it," the old lady broke in. "It melts in water. You got
figure out a way so it won't. Then the little gentleman'll know you're repentant for real."
There was a sympathetic silence while his agitated mind attacked the problem from all angle
Then the old lady said in awe: "The minute I saw your place I knew Mike had told the truth.
never seen a sight like it in my life—rain coming down, like the flood, everywhere else; but
around this place, in a big circle, it's dry as a bone!"
While Greenberg scarcely heard her, Mike nodded and Es-ther seemed peculiarly interested
the phenomenon. When he admitted defeat and came out of his reflected stupor, he was alone
the concession, with only a vague memory of Esther's saying she would not be back for sever
hours.
"What am I going to do?" he muttered. "Sugar that won't melt—" He drew a glass of beer an
drank it thoughtfully. "Particular they got to be yet. Ain't it good enough if I bring simp
sirup—that's sweet."
He pottered about the place, looking for something to do. He could not polish the fountain o
the bar, and the few frankfurters boiling on the griddle probably would go to waste. The floor h
already been swept. So he sat uneasily and worried his problem.
"Monday, no matter what," he resolved, "I'll go to the lake. It don't pay to go tomorrow. I
only catch a cold because it'll rain."
At last Esther returned, smiling in a strange way. She was extremely gentle, tender an
thoughtful; and for that he was appreciative. But that night and all day Sunday he under-stood t
reason for her happiness.
She had spread word that, while it rained in every other place all over town, their concessio