Человек в высоком замке

           HecouldforinstanceslipacrossintotheRockyMountainStates.ButitwaslooselybandedtothePSA,andmightextraditehim.WhatabouttheSouth?Hisbodyrecoiled.Ugh.Notthat.Asawhitemanhewouldhaveplentyofplace,infactmorethanhehadhereinthePSA.But…hedidnotwantthatkindofplace.

           And,worse,theSouthhadacat’scradleofties,economic,ideological,andgodknewwhat,withtheReich.AndFrankFrinkwasaJew.

           HisoriginalnamewasFrankFink.HehadbeenbornontheEastCoast,inNewYork,andin1941hehadbeendraftedintotheArmyoftheUnitedStatesofAmerica,rightafterthecollapseofRussia.AftertheJapshadtakenHawaiihehadbeensenttotheWestCoast.Whenthewarended,therehewas,ontheJapanesesideofthesettlementline.Andherehewastoday,fifteenyearslater.

           In1947,onCapitulationDay,hehadmoreorlessgoneberserk.HatingtheJapsashedid,hehadvowedrevenge;hehadburiedhisServiceweaponstenfeetunderground,inabasement,well-wrappedandoiled,forthedayheandhisbuddiesarose.However,timewasthegreathealer,afacthehadnottakenintoaccount.Whenhethoughtoftheideanow,thegreatbloodbath,thepurgingofthepinocsandtheirmasters,hefeltasifwerereviewingoneofthosestainedyearbooksfromhishighschooldays,cominguponanaccountofhisboyhoodaspirations.Frank"Goldfish"FinkisgoingtobeapaleontologistandvowstomarryNormaProut.NormaProutwastheclassschonesMädchen,andhereallyhadvowedtomarryher.