"Ron Goulart - Please Stand By" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goulart Ron)

"You don't think," said Max, crossing to the window and looking down at the late afternoon crowds,
"that you're simply having hallucinations?"

"If I am they are pretty authentic. Thanksgiving Day I ate a bale of hay." Dan tapped his fingers on his
knees. "See, the first time I changed I got hungry after a while. But I couldn't work the damned can
opener with my trunk. So I figured I'd get a bale of hay and keep it handy if I ever changed again."

"You seemed to stay an elephant for how long?"

"Twenty-four hours. The first time—both times I've been in my apartment, which has a nice solid
floor—I got worried. I trumpeted and stomped around. Then the guy upstairs, the queer ceramicist,
started pounding on the floor. I figured I'd better keep quiet so nobody would call the cops and take me
off to a zoo or animal shelter. Well, I waited around and tried to figure things out and then right on the
nose at midnight I was myself again."

Max ground his cigarette into the small metal pie plate on his workstand. "You're not putting me on, are
you?"

"No, Max." Dan looked up hopefully. "Is this in your line? I don't know anyone else to ask. I tried to
forget it. Now, though, Christmas is nearly here. Both other times I changed was on a holiday. I'm
worried."

"Lycanthropy," said Max. "That can't be it. Have you been near any elephants lately?"

"I was at the zoo a couple of years ago. None of them bit me or even looked at me funny."

"This is something else. Look, Dan, I've got a date with a girl down in Palo Alto on Christmas Day. But
Christmas Eve I can be free. Do you change right on the dot?"

"If it happens I should switch over right at midnight on the twenty-fourth. I already told my folks I was
going to spend these holidays with Anne. And I told her I'd be with them."

"Which leaves her free to see Westerland."

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 Please Stand By



"That son of a bitch."

"Major Bowsers not a bad cartoon show."

"Successful anyway. That dog's voice is what makes the show. I hate Westerland and I've laughed at it."
Dan rose. "Maybe nothing will happen."

"If anything does it may give me a lead."

"Hope so. Well, Merry Christmas, Max. See you tomorrow night."