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."I am not so gullible as you were, Bruce," he told Bunnish, "and if you are trying to get some laughs by having us swallow this crock of shit, it isn't going to work."Bunnish turned to Peter."Captain, what's your vote?""Well," said Peter carefully, "all this is a little hard to credit, Bruce.You spoke of the game becoming an obsession with you, and I think that's true.I think you ought to be talking to a professional about this, not to us.""A professional what?" Bunnish said.Peter fidgeted uncomfortably."You know, a shrink or a counselor."Bunnish chuckled."Failure hasn't made you any less patronizing,"he said."You were just as bad in the bookstore, in that line where you turned out to be a successful novelist."Peter sighed."Bruce, can't you see how pathetic these delusions of yours are?I mean, you've obviously been quite a success, and none of us have done as Page 66ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlwell, but even that wasn't enough for you, so you've constructed all these elaborate fantasies about how you have been the one behind our various failures.Vicarious, imaginary revenge.""Neither vicarious nor imaginary, Norten," Bunnish snapped."I can tell you exactly how I did it.""Let him tell his stories, Peter," E.C.said."Then maybe he'll let us out of this funny farm.""Why thank you, E.C," Bunnish said.He looked around the table with smug satisfaction, like a man about to live out a dream he has cherished for a long, long time.Finally he fastened on Steve Delmario."I'll start with you," he said, "because in fact, I did start with you.You were easy to destroy, Delmario, because you were always so limited.In the original timeline, you were as wealthy as I am in this one.While I spent my life perfecting my flashback device, you made fast fortunes in the wide world out there.Electronic games at first, later more basic stuff, home computers, that sort of thing.You were born for that, and you were the best in the business, inspired and ingenious."When I flashed back, I simply took your place.Before using my device, I studied all your early little games, your cleverest ideas, the basic patents that came later and made you so rich.And I memorized all of them, along with the dates on which you'd come up with each and every one.Back in the past, armed with all this foreknowledge, it was child's play to beat you to the punch.Again and again.In those early years, Delmario, didn't it ever strike you as strange the way Ianticipated every one of your small brainstorms? I'm living your life, Delmario."Delmario's hand had begun to tremble as he listened.His face looked dead."God damn you," he said."God damn you.""Don't let him get to you, Steve," E.C.put in."He's just making this up to see us squirm.It's all too absurd for words.""But it's true," Delmario wailed, looking from E.C.to Bunnish and then, helplessly, at Peter.Behind the thick lenses his eyes seemed wild."Peter, what he said—all my ideas—he was always ahead of me, he, he, I told you, he—""Yes," Peter said firmly, "and you told Bruce too, when we were talking earlier.Now he's just using your fears against you."Delmario opened his mouth, but no words came out."Have another drink," Bunnish suggested.Delmario stared at Bunnish as if he were about to leap up and strangle him.Peter tensed himself to intervene.But then, instead, Delmario reached out for a half-empty wine bottle, and filled his glass sloppily."This is contemptible, Bruce," E.C.said.Bunnish turned to face him."Delmario's ruin was easy and dramatic," he said."You were more difficult, Stuart.He had nothing to live for but his work, you see, and when I took that away from him, he just collapsed.I only had to anticipate him a half-dozen times before all of his belief in himself was gone, and he did the rest himself.But you, E.G., you had more resources.""Go on with the fairy tale, Bunnish," E.C.said in a put-upon tone."Delmario's ideas had made me rich," Bunnish said."I used the money against you.Your fall was less satisfying and less resounding than Delmario's.He went from the heights to the pits.You were only a moderate success to begin with, and I had to settle for turning you into a moderate failure.But I managed.I pulled strings behind the scenes to lose you a number of large accounts.When you were with Foote, ConeI made sure another agency hired away a copywriter named Allerd, just Page 67ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlbefore he came up with a campaign that would have rebounded to your credit.And remember when you left that position to take a better-paying slot at a brand new agency? Remember how quickly that agency folded, leaving you without an income? That was me.I've given your career twenty or thirty little shoves like that.Haven't you ever wondered at how infallibly wrong most of your professional moves have been, Stuart? At your bad luck?""No," said E.C."I'm doing well enough, thank you."Bunnish smiled."I played one other little joke on you, too.You can thank me for that case of herpes you picked up last year.The lady who gave it to you was well paid.I had to search for her for a good number of years until I found the right combination—an out-of-work actress who was young and gorgeous and precisely your type, yet sufficiently desperate to do just about anything, and gifted with an incurable venereal disease as well.How did you like her, Stuart? It's your fault, you know.I just put her in your path, you did the rest yourself.And Ithought it was so fitting, after my blind date and all."E.C.'s expression did not change."If you think this is going to break me down or make me believe you, you're way off base [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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."I am not so gullible as you were, Bruce," he told Bunnish, "and if you are trying to get some laughs by having us swallow this crock of shit, it isn't going to work."Bunnish turned to Peter."Captain, what's your vote?""Well," said Peter carefully, "all this is a little hard to credit, Bruce.You spoke of the game becoming an obsession with you, and I think that's true.I think you ought to be talking to a professional about this, not to us.""A professional what?" Bunnish said.Peter fidgeted uncomfortably."You know, a shrink or a counselor."Bunnish chuckled."Failure hasn't made you any less patronizing,"he said."You were just as bad in the bookstore, in that line where you turned out to be a successful novelist."Peter sighed."Bruce, can't you see how pathetic these delusions of yours are?I mean, you've obviously been quite a success, and none of us have done as Page 66ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlwell, but even that wasn't enough for you, so you've constructed all these elaborate fantasies about how you have been the one behind our various failures.Vicarious, imaginary revenge.""Neither vicarious nor imaginary, Norten," Bunnish snapped."I can tell you exactly how I did it.""Let him tell his stories, Peter," E.C.said."Then maybe he'll let us out of this funny farm.""Why thank you, E.C," Bunnish said.He looked around the table with smug satisfaction, like a man about to live out a dream he has cherished for a long, long time.Finally he fastened on Steve Delmario."I'll start with you," he said, "because in fact, I did start with you.You were easy to destroy, Delmario, because you were always so limited.In the original timeline, you were as wealthy as I am in this one.While I spent my life perfecting my flashback device, you made fast fortunes in the wide world out there.Electronic games at first, later more basic stuff, home computers, that sort of thing.You were born for that, and you were the best in the business, inspired and ingenious."When I flashed back, I simply took your place.Before using my device, I studied all your early little games, your cleverest ideas, the basic patents that came later and made you so rich.And I memorized all of them, along with the dates on which you'd come up with each and every one.Back in the past, armed with all this foreknowledge, it was child's play to beat you to the punch.Again and again.In those early years, Delmario, didn't it ever strike you as strange the way Ianticipated every one of your small brainstorms? I'm living your life, Delmario."Delmario's hand had begun to tremble as he listened.His face looked dead."God damn you," he said."God damn you.""Don't let him get to you, Steve," E.C.put in."He's just making this up to see us squirm.It's all too absurd for words.""But it's true," Delmario wailed, looking from E.C.to Bunnish and then, helplessly, at Peter.Behind the thick lenses his eyes seemed wild."Peter, what he said—all my ideas—he was always ahead of me, he, he, I told you, he—""Yes," Peter said firmly, "and you told Bruce too, when we were talking earlier.Now he's just using your fears against you."Delmario opened his mouth, but no words came out."Have another drink," Bunnish suggested.Delmario stared at Bunnish as if he were about to leap up and strangle him.Peter tensed himself to intervene.But then, instead, Delmario reached out for a half-empty wine bottle, and filled his glass sloppily."This is contemptible, Bruce," E.C.said.Bunnish turned to face him."Delmario's ruin was easy and dramatic," he said."You were more difficult, Stuart.He had nothing to live for but his work, you see, and when I took that away from him, he just collapsed.I only had to anticipate him a half-dozen times before all of his belief in himself was gone, and he did the rest himself.But you, E.G., you had more resources.""Go on with the fairy tale, Bunnish," E.C.said in a put-upon tone."Delmario's ideas had made me rich," Bunnish said."I used the money against you.Your fall was less satisfying and less resounding than Delmario's.He went from the heights to the pits.You were only a moderate success to begin with, and I had to settle for turning you into a moderate failure.But I managed.I pulled strings behind the scenes to lose you a number of large accounts.When you were with Foote, ConeI made sure another agency hired away a copywriter named Allerd, just Page 67ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlbefore he came up with a campaign that would have rebounded to your credit.And remember when you left that position to take a better-paying slot at a brand new agency? Remember how quickly that agency folded, leaving you without an income? That was me.I've given your career twenty or thirty little shoves like that.Haven't you ever wondered at how infallibly wrong most of your professional moves have been, Stuart? At your bad luck?""No," said E.C."I'm doing well enough, thank you."Bunnish smiled."I played one other little joke on you, too.You can thank me for that case of herpes you picked up last year.The lady who gave it to you was well paid.I had to search for her for a good number of years until I found the right combination—an out-of-work actress who was young and gorgeous and precisely your type, yet sufficiently desperate to do just about anything, and gifted with an incurable venereal disease as well.How did you like her, Stuart? It's your fault, you know.I just put her in your path, you did the rest yourself.And Ithought it was so fitting, after my blind date and all."E.C.'s expression did not change."If you think this is going to break me down or make me believe you, you're way off base [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]