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Автор Роберт Асприн
M. Y. T. H. Inc. Link By Robert Asprin
Contents
Chapter One:
Chapter Two:
Chapter Three:
Chapter Four:
Chapter Five:
Chapter Six:
Chapter One:
“Petty crime is the scourge of business today. ”
-D. LOREAN
I ACTUALLY LIKED our new office facilities better than the old. Even though Aahz had argued hard to keep the Even Odds as a bar (read “money-making venture”), the rest of us ganged up on him and insisted that since we had an extra building it would make more sense to remodel it into offices than to keep trying to do business out of our home. I mean, who really needs a lot of strangers traipsing in and out of your private life all the time? That practice had already landed us in trouble once, and the memory of that escapade was what finally convinced my old mentor to go along with the plan.
Of course, remodeling was more of a hassle than I had expected, even after getting one of the local religious temples to do the carpentry. Even working cheap they were more expensive than I had imagined, and the hours they kept . . . but I digress.
I had a large office now, with a desk, “in” basket, Day-Timers Scheduler, visitor chairs, the whole nine yards. As I said, I liked it a lot. What I didn’t like was the title that went with it ... to wit, President.
That’s right. Everybody insisted that since incorporating our merry band of misfits was my idea, I was the logical choice for titular head of the organization. Even Aahz betrayed me, proclaiming it was a great idea, though to my eye he was hiding a snicker when he said it. If I had known my suggestion would lead to this, believe me I would have kept my mouth shut.
Don’t get me wrong, the crew is great! If I were going to lead a group, I couldn’t ask for a nicer, more loyal bunch than the one currently at my disposal. Of course, there might be those who would argue the point with me. A trollop, a troll, two gangsters, a moll, and a Pervert . . . excuse me, Pervect ...
an overweight vamp, and a baby dragon might not seem like the ideal team to the average person. They didn’t to me when I first met them. Still, they’ve been unswerving in their support of me over the years, and together we’ve piled up an impressive track record. No, I’d rather stick with the rat-pack I know, however strange, than trust my fate to anyone else, no matter how qualified they might seem. If anything, from time to time I wonder what they think of me and wish I could peek inside their heads to learn their opinions. Whatever they think, they stick around . . . and that’s what counts.It isn’t the crew that makes me edgy ... it’s the title. You see, as long as I can remember, I’ve always thought that being a leader was the equivalent of walking around with a large bulls-eye painted on your back. Basically the job involves holding the bag for a lot of people instead of just for yourself. If anything goes wrong, you end up being to blame. Even if someone else perpetrated the foul-up, as the leader you’re responsible. On the off chance things go right, all you really feel is guilty for taking the credit for someone else’s work. All in all, it seems to me to be a no-win, thankless position, one that I would much rather delegate to someone else while I had fun in the field. Unfortunately, everyone else seemed to have the same basic opinion, and as the least experienced member of the crew I was less adept at coming up with reasons to dodge the slot than the others. Consequently, I became the President of M. Y. T. H. Inc. (That’s Magical Young Trouble-shooting Heroes. Don’t blame me. I didn’t come up with the name), an association of magicians and trouble-shooters dedicated to simultaneously helping others and making money.
