"Steven Gould - Wildside" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gould Stephen Jay)

made a few calls. The first phone booth we used was at the Galleria, the huge mall on the west loop.
Rick stayed with the truck; Joey and I took the quarters in.

It was a weekday morning, the mall just open. On the ice rink on the bottom level, a girl was
doing axels while her instructor counted aloud. We found a phone in a quiet alcove and I dialed the
first number, then put in four dollars as directed by the computerized voice.

The phone rang twice and was answered, "National Zoo."

"Dr. David Eisner, please."

"Who shall I say is calling?"

"The Lazarus Company."

She put me on hold and then a man's voice said, "This is David Eisner." He sounded wary.

"Did the pigeon arrive all right?"

"Who is this?"

"I'm the one who sent you the pigeon. The Passenger pigeon. You know, Ectopistes
migratornts?"

"All right. Yes, the pigeon seems to be fine." His voice lowered and became very intense. "
Where did you get it?"

"Well—that's my secret. I'm pleased that he arrived okay." I paused. "Pity that they're
extinct—they're such pretty birds."
 His voice got louder. "Where did you get it? Don't you know it's illegal to traffic in endangered
species?"

I winced and gritted my teeth. "Passenger pigeons are not on the endangered species list, Dr.
Eisner. I'm not doing anything illegal."

"Well, they will be if they survive as a species! Are there any others?"

"I was just coming to that."

"Ah."

"I have four females for sale."

"We'll take th—uh, how much?"

"Twenty-five thousand dollars each."

"What! A hundred thousand dollars?"

"Yes."