Человек в высоком замке

           "Don’tkidyourself."

           Frinksaid,"I’mnotkiddingmyself."

           "Meaningwhat?"

           "Meaningit’stimetostartlookingforamarketforscrap."

           "Allright,"McCarthysaid,"quit,then."

           "Ihave."

           "I’llgoonbymyself."McCarthylitthetorchagain.

           "Howarewegoingtosplitthestuff?"

           "Idon’tknow.Butwe’llfindaway."

           "Buymeout,"Frinksaid.

           "Hellno."

           Frinkcomputed."Paymesixhundreddollars."

           "No,youtakehalfofeverything."

           "Halfthemotor?"

           Theywerebothsilentthen.

           "Threemorestores,"McCarthysaid."Thenwe’lltalkaboutit."Loweringhismaskhebeganbrazingasectionofbrassrodintoacuffbracelet.

           FrankFrinksteppeddownfromthebench.Helocatedthesnail-shellearringandreplaceditinthecartonofincompletepieces."I’mgoingoutsideforasmoke,"hesaid,andwalkedacrossthebasementtothestairs.

           Amomentlaterhestoodoutdoorsonthesidewalk,aT’ien-laibetweenhisfingers.

           It’sallover,hesaidtohimself.Idon’tneedtheoracletotellme;IrecognizewhattheMomentis.Thesmellisthere.Defeat.

           Anditishardreallytosaywhy.Maybe,theoretically,wecouldgoon.Storetostore,othercities.But—somethingiswrong.Andalltheeffortandingenuitywon’tchangeit.

           Iwanttoknowwhy,hethought.

           ButIneverwill.

           Whatshouldwehavedone?Madewhatinstead?

           Webuckedthemoment.BuckedtheTao.Upstream,inthewrongdirection.Andnow—dissolution.Decay.

           Yinhasus.Thelightshowedusitsass,wentelsewhere.