"C M Kornbluth - Time Bum" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kornbluth C M)

Walter said uneasily, "I'm sorry, doll. I didn't think he'd be quite that peculiar—"



"—But after all!"



"—Of course he's a foreigner. What was that word?"



He jotted it down.



While they were doing the dishes Betty said, "I think he was drunk. Falling-down drunk."



"No," Walter said. "It's exactly the same thing he did in my office. As though he expected a chair to
come to him instead of him going to a chair." He laughed and said uncertainly, "Or maybe he's royalty. I
read once about Queen Victoria never looking around before she sat down, she was so sure there'd be a
chair there."
"Well, there isn't any more royalty, not to speak of," she said angrily, hanging up the dish towel. "What's
on TV tonight?"



"Uncle Miltie. But... uh... I think I'll read. Uh... where do you keep those magazines of yours, doll?
Believe I'll give them a try."



She gave him a look that he wouldn't meet, and she went to get him some of her magazines. She also got
a slim green book which she hadn't looked at for years. While Walter flipped uneasily through the
magazines she studied the book. After about ten minutes she said: "Walter. Seemonjoe. I I think I know
what language it is."



He was instantly alert. "Yeah? What?"



"It should be spelled c-i-m-a-n-g-o, with little jiggers over the C and G. It means 'Universal food' in
Esperanto."