"Heinlein, Robert A - All You Zombies (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

It was a slip I had to risk; he never admitted what
pen-names he used. But he was boiled enough to pick up only the
last: "'Woman's angle! "" he repeated with a snort. -- Yeah, I
know the woman's angle. I should. --
"So? -- I said doubtfully. -- Sisters? --
"No. You wouldn't believe me if I told you. --
"Now, now, " I answered mildly, "bartenders and
psychiatrists learn that nothing is stranger than truth. Why,
son, if you heard the stories I do-well, you'd make yourself
rich. Incredible. --
"You don't know what "incredible" means! "
"So? Nothing astonishes me. I've always heard worse. --
He snorted again. -- Want to bet the rest of the
bottle? --
"I'll bet a full bottle. -- I placed one on the bar.
"Well-" I signaled my other bartender to handle the
trade. We were at the far end, a single-stool space that I kept
private by loading the bar top by it with jars of pickled eggs
and other clutter. A few were at the other end watching the
fights and somebody was playing the juke box-private as a bed
where we were.
"Okay, " he began, "to start with, I'm a bastard. --
"No distinction around here, " I said.
"I mean it, " he snapped. -- My parents weren't
married. --
"Still no distinction, " I insisted. -- Neither were
mine. --
"When-" He stopped, gave me the first warm look I ever
saw on him. -- You mean that? --
"I do. A one-hundred-percent bastard. In fact, " I
added, "no one in my family ever marries. All bastards.
"Oh, that. -- I showed it to him. -- It just looks like
a wedding ring; I wear it to keep women off. -- It is an
antique I bought in 1985 from a fellow operative - he had
fetched it from pre-Christian Crete. -- The Worm Ouroboros...
the World Snake that eats its own tail, forever without end. A
symbol of the Great Paradox. --

He barely glanced at it. -- if you're really a bastard,
you know how it feels. When I was a little girl-"

"Wups! " I said. -- Did I hear you correctly? --
"'Who's telling this story? When I was a little
girl-Look, ever hear of Christine Jorgenson? Or Roberta Cowell?
--
"Uh, sex-change cases? You're trying to tell me-"
"Don't interrupt or swelp me, I won't talk. I was a
foundling, left at an orphanage in Cleveland in 1945 when I was
a month old. When I was a little girl, I envied kids with
parents. Then, when I learned about sex-and, believe me, Pop,