Shmucks (15 page)

Pelzic threw down the piece of steering wheel. Why? Why? he wondered, why did they always say that to him? What was it about his arse that always made policemen want to kick it?

He was about to put the gear into reverse, when a tremendous shock flung Pelzic's car forward and snapped his body back against the seat. He could hear a voice somewhere in his head yelling at him as though in slow motion. “Scream, scream!” the voice was saying. “Scream and trow yourself!”

Pelzic let out a high, piercing scream. As the sound came out of his throat, Pelzic could see the stunned face of the policeman through his window.

As though in a dream, Pelzic heaved the door open and hurled himself to the pavement. As he was falling, his eye took in the sight of the white Lincoln which was now wedged hard against the rear of his taxi. An ashen-faced woman sat behind the wheel. He also caught a glimpse of Dunsmore in the back seat of the taxi holding his neck as though in great agony.

Pelzic crumpled to the pavement, the scream fading from his throat. He lay on his stomach. He lifted his eyes up slightly towards the sky. A muffled sob stuck in his throat as he whispered, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Then he let his head down on the pavement and lay very still while he waited for the ambulance to come.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SEYMOUR BLICKER
is the author of
Blues Chased a Rabbit
,
Shmucks
, and
The Last Collection
. He lives in Canada.

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ALSO BY SEYMOUR BLICKER

Blues Chased a Rabbit

The Last Collection

COPYRIGHT

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

This book was originally published in 1972 by William Morrow, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers LLC.

SHMUCKS
. Copyright © 1972 by Seymour Blicker. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition November 2014 ISBN: 9780062379252

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