ชั้นหนังสือ : ชวนไปอ่าน
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THE WASP FACTORY: Iain Banks |
| 'Hello,' I said. It was a call-box. 'skraw-aak!' screamed a voice at the other end. I held the reciever away from my ear and looked it, scowling. Tinny yells continued to come from the earpiece. When they stopped I put my ear back to it.
'Porteneil 531,' I said coldly. 'Frank! Frank! It's me. Me! Hello there! Hello!' 'Is there an echo echo on this line or are you saying everything twice?' I said. I could recognize Eric's voice. 'Both! Ha ha ha ha ha!' 'Hello, Eric. Where are you?' 'Here, where are you?' 'Here.' 'If we're both here, why are we bothering with the phone?' 'Tell me where you are before your money runs out.' 'But if you're _here_ you must know. Don't you know where you are?' He started to giggle. I said calmly: 'Stop being silly, Eric.' 'I'm not being silly. I'm not telling you where I am; You'll only tell Angus and he'll the police and they'll take me back to the fucking hospital.' 'Don't use four-letter words. You know I don't like them. Of course I won't tell Dad.' "Fucking" is not a four-letter word. It's ... it's a seven-letter word. Isn't that your lucky number?' 'No. Look, will you tell me where you are? I want to know.' 'I'll tell you where I am if you'll tell me what your lucky number is.' 'My lucky number is e.' 'That's not a number. That's a letter.' 'It is a number. It's a transcendental number: 2.718-' 'That's cheating. I meant an integer.' 'You should have been more specific,' I said, then sighed as the pipe sounded and Eric eventually put more money in. 'Do you want me to call you back?' 'Ho-ho. You aren't getting it out of me that easy. How are you anyway?' 'I'm fine. How are you?' 'Mad, of course,' he said quite indignantly. I had to smile. 'Look, I'm assuming you're coming back here. If you are, please don't burn any dogs or anything, OK?' 'What are you talking about? It's me. Eric. I don't burn dogs!' He started to shout 'I don't burn fucking dogs! What the hell do you think I am? Don't accuse me of burning fucking dogs, you little bastard! BASTARD!' 'All right, Eric, I'm sorry,' I said as quickly as I could. 'I just want you to be OK; be careful. Don't do anything to antagonize people, you know? People can be awful sentitive....' 'Well ...,' I could hear him say. I listened to him breathing, then his voice changed. 'Yeah, I'm comming back home. Just for a short while, to see how you both are. I suppose it's just you and the old man?' 'Yes, just the two of us. I'm looking forward to see seeing you.' 'Oh, good.' There was a pause. 'Why don't you ever come to visit me?' คืนเรือน | ชั้นหนังสือ | The Wasp Factory |