ВУЗ:
Составители:
Рубрика:
“Yes, that must be him,” said Blackburn, lighting up the drunk with the spotlight. The drunk threw his hands in front of his face.
Serge stopped a few feet in front of the man and they both got out.
“Where’s the statue?” asked Blackburn.
“I have, nothing, sir,” said the man.
“I know this guy,” said Blackburn. “Let me see, Eddie ... Eddie something.”
“Eduardo Onofre Esquer,” said the man, swaying. “I remember you, sir. You apprehended me lots of times.”
“Yes, Eddie wars one of the Brooklin Avenue winos
3
for years. Where have you been, Eddie?”
“I got a year last time, sir. I’ve been in the country for a year.”
“A year? for drunk
4
?”
“Not for drunk. Petty theft, sir. I stole a couple of pairs of woman’s stockings to sell for a drink.”
“And now you are doing the same thing,” said Blackburn. “You know petty theft with a prior one is a felony
5
. You’re going to
go for a felony this time.”
“Get in, Eddie,” said Serge. “Show us where you threw the statue.”
“Please, let mе go,” said Eddie, as Serge started the car and drove east.
“Which way, Eddie,” asked Serge.
“I didn’t know it, sir. I set it down at the church when I saw what it was.”
Blackburn’s spotlight lighted up the statue on the steps in front of the grey building on Breed Street.
“When I saw what it was, I put it there on the steps of the church.”
“That’s not a church,” said Blackburn. “That’s a synagogue.”
“Anyway, I put it there for the, priest to find,” said Eddie. “Please, let me go, sir. I’ll go straight home to my room. I shan’t steal
any more.”
“What do you say, partner?” asked Serge, laughing.
“What the hell. We’re juvenile officers, aren’t we?” said Blackburn. “Eddie is not a juvenile.”
“Go home, Eddie,” said Serge, reaching over the seat and unlocking the door of the car.
“Thank you, sir,” said Eddie. “Thank you. I’m going home.”
Notes: 1. Lus del Dia – имя владельца магазина.
2. Rookie – жарг. новобранец.
3. Wino – ам. жарг. пропойца.
4. Drunk – дело о дебоширстве, разбираемое в суде.
5. Felony – фелония; тяжкое преступление.
(After J. Wambauch)
1. What kind of policemen were Serge and Blackburn? How did you understand the expression “juvenile officers”?
2. Do you think it was a routine patrol of the policemen? What makes you think so?
3. Do you think the policemen were right setting the offender free? Why?
Text 3. How I rose to be an Australian shoe-shine box
When I was an actor at a theatre I used to forget now and then about the matinees
1
. So they said I ought to try another job.
“You might get a work in Ireland,” they said. “There’s a place called Ballydoggin
2
,” a gentleman in North Ireland said: “They
might have a job for you there.”
At Ballydoggin a gentleman on the railway station said, “you might try the Constebulary. They’re short of cops in this town.”
The Police Sergeant didn’t ask me about my education or things like that.
“Have you got people depending on you?” – that was all he asked.
“Or a darling wife?” he asked.
“Or an old mother?”
I told him I was alone in the world, and he said, “You’ll need a uniform.”
He gave me a uniform and I tried it on.
“Pluck,” the Sergeant said, “pluck and initiative, that’s what makes a class cop. We’re going to be proud of you,” the Sergeant
said. “And by the way,” he said, “as you go down O’Mailey Street you’d batter shoot an eye at Humber 48. That’s Mr. James’s house,
and he’s the Mayor of this town, and he’s away, with Mrs. James in the country. We wouldn’t want anything stolen from Mr. James’s
house”, the Sergeant said.
It was dark when I came to O’Mailey Street, so I couldn’t read the numbers. But a pair of gentlemen were sitting in a big car
beside the road, and I put a question to them.
“Why, this is Humber 48,” they said, “this one beside you here.”
“You, aren’t by change Mr. James?” I asked the biggest of these gentlemen.
Страницы
- « первая
- ‹ предыдущая
- …
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- …
- следующая ›
- последняя »
