"Ray Vukcevich - Glinky" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vukcevich Ray)

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Glinky
by Ray Vukcevich
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Copyright (c)2004 by Ray Vukcevich
First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 2004

Fictionwise
www.Fictionwise.com

Science Fiction
Nebula Award Preliminary Ballot Nominee

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*1*
Not a Bird
Glinky is on TV.
The man with the abdominal gunshot wound isn't watching Glinky.
What the heck is Glinky anyway?
Is he a mouse?
No!
Is she a cat?
No!
It's Glinky, Glinky, Glinky!
The wounded man wants to somehow get to the telephone on the table near
the couch and call for help. It's a long way to crawl. Glinky sings him a
little song of encouragement, but it's clear the cartoon is mocking him.
When the man gets to the table, he looks back and sees a long smear of
blood across the carpet and beyond that Glinky glaring at him from the TV.
Who in the world is Glinky?
Some monkey?
No.
A flying fish with horse lips and dog ears?
No, he's just Glinky!
The man stretches up an arm and bats around on the top of the table for
the phone. It isn't there. No, wait, there it is. He pulls it off the table
and tries to catch it as it falls, and fails, and it hits him in the face, but
the pain is nothing like the pain in his gut. The pain from the phone hitting
him in the face is trivial. It might as well not be pain at all. He drags the
phone into his lap and picks up the receiver and puts it to his ear.
There is no dial tone.
He pulls at the phone wire that leads to the wall. Soon, he's holding