Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas / Страх и отвращение в Лас-Вегасе. Хантер С. Томпсон
Читать онлайн.| Название | Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas / Страх и отвращение в Лас-Вегасе |
|---|---|
| Автор произведения | Хантер С. Томпсон |
| Жанр | |
| Серия | Abridged & Adapted |
| Издательство | |
| Год выпуска | 1971 |
| isbn | 978-5-907097-24-7 |
“God hell!” he exclaimed. “ This one sounds like real trouble!” He called for more drink. “You’re going to need legal advice[27] before this thing is over,” he said. “And my first advice is that you should rent a very fast car with no top and get the hell out of L.A. for at least forty-eight hours.” He shook his head sadly. “This ruins my weekend, because naturally I’ll have to go with you.”
“Why not?” I said. “If a thing like this is worth doing at all, it should be done right. We’ll need some equipment and lots of cash – for drugs and a tape recorder.”
“What kind of a story is this?” my attorney asked.
“The Mint 400,” I said. “It’s the richest off-the-road race for motorcycles and dune-buggies[28] in the history of organized sport – a fantastic show in honor of some man named Del Webb, who owns the luxurious Mint Hotel in the heart of downtown Las Vegas… at least that’s what the press release says; my man in New York just read it to me.”
“Well,” he said, “as your attorney I advise you to buy a motorcycle. How else can you cover a thing like this?[29][30]”
“No way,” I said. “Where can we get a Vincent Black Shadow[31]?”
“What’s that?”
“A fantastic bike,” I said. “The new model.”
“That sounds right for this thing,” he said.
“It is,” I told him. “The bike’s pure hell on the road.” “Can we handle that?[32]” he asked.
“Absolutely,” I said. “I’ll call New York for some cash.”
2
The New York office did not know anything about the Vincent Black Shadow: they sent me to the Los Angeles office – which was actually just a few blocks from the hotel – but when I got there, the money-woman refused to give me more than $300 in cash.
She had no idea who I was, she said, and by that time I was sweating. I have never been able to properly explain myself in this California climate – not with the sweat… or wild red eyes and shaking hands.
So I took the $300 and left. My attorney was waiting in a bar around the corner.
“This won’t do[33],” he said, “we have to have unlimited credit.”
I told him we would.
“You Samoans are all the same,” I told him. “You have no faith in the white man’s culture. Jesus, just one hour ago we were sitting in that hotel, broke and paralyzed for the weekend, when a call comes from some total stranger in New York, telling me to go to Las Vegas – and then he sends me to some office in Beverly Hills[34] where another total stranger gives me $300 in cash for no reason at all… I tell you, man, this is the American Dream in action!”
“Indeed,” he said.
“Right,” I said. “But first we need the car. And after that, the cocaine. And then the tape recorder, for special music, and some Acapulco shirts[35].” The only way to prepare for a trip like this was to dress up like peacocks, get crazy and cover the story.
But what was the story? Nobody had told us. So we would have to do it all on our own. Free enterprise. The American Dream. Do it now: pure Gonzo journalism[36].
Getting the drugs had been no problem, but the car and the tape recorder were difficult to find at 6:30 on a Friday afternoon in Hollywood[37]. I already had one car, but it was too small and slow for the desert. We went to a Polynesian[38] bar where my attorney made seventeen calls before finding a convertible with proper horsepower and color.
“We’ll be there in thirty minutes,” I heard him say into the phone. Then after a pause, he began shouting: “What? Of course the gentleman has a credit card! Do you realize who the hell you’re talking to?”
“Now we need a sound store with the finest equipment,” I said as he put the phone down. “We want a tape recorder with that new mike for picking up conversations in passing cars.”
We made several more calls and finally found our equipment in a store about five miles away. It was closed, but the salesman said he would wait, if we hurried. But there was an accident on the main road, and in the end we were late. Bad luck. The store was closed by the time we got there. There were people inside, but they refused to come to the glass door until we gave it a few kicks.
Finally two salesmen with tire irons came to the door and we managed to do the sale. They opened the door just wide enough to push the equipment out, before closing and locking it again.
“Now take that stuff and get the hell out of here,” one of them shouted.
My attorney shook his fist at them. “We’ll be back,” he yelled. “One of these days I’ll throw a goddamn bomb into this place! I have your names! I’ll find out where you live and burn your houses down! You psychos…”
We had trouble, again, at the car rental agency. After signing all the papers, I got in the car and almost lost control of it while backing across the lot to the gas pump. The rental-man was obviously shocked.
“Say. uh. you fellows are going to be careful with this car, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Well, good god!” he said. “You just backed and you didn’t even slow down! You were lucky to miss the pump.”
“No damage done,” I said. “I always test a transmission that way. For stress factors.”
Meanwhile, my attorney was busy carrying rum and ice to the back seat of the convertible. The rental-man watched him nervously.
“Say,” he said. “Are you fellows drinking?”
“Not me,” I said.
“Just fill the goddamn tank,” my attorney said. “We’re in a hell of a hurry. We’re on our way to Las Vegas for a desert race.”
“What?”
“Never mind,” I said. “We’re responsible people.”
I watched him fill the tank with gas; then I started the engine.
“Another psycho,” said my attorney. “To hell with him. We have a lot of business to take care of, before we can get on the road.”
“You’re right,” I said. “And for Christ’s sake[39] don’t smoke that pipe at stoplights. We’re exposed[40].” He nodded. “We need a big hookah. Keep it down there on the back seat, out of sight. If anybody sees us, they’ll think we’re using oxygen.”
We spent the rest of that night gathering materials and packing the car. Then we ate the mescaline and went swimming in the ocean. At dawn we had breakfast in a Malibu[41]
консультация адвоката / юридическая помощь
Багги – небольшой лёгкий автомобиль высокой проходимости
В 1960–1980 гг. «Минт» был известным в Лас-Вегасе отелем и казино, спонсировавшим гонку «Минт 400». Крупный владелец недвижимости Делберт Ю. Уэбб приобрёл отель в 1961 г.
А иначе как ты сможешь вести репортаж с места событий?
Британский скоростной мотоцикл, производившийся с 1948 г. По праву считается одним из лучших в истории мотоспорта
А мы с ним справимся?
Этого будет маловато.
Беверли-Хиллз – город в округе Лос-Анджелес, США
Акапулько – курортный город в Мексике;
Гонзо-журналистика (англ.
Голливуд – район Лос-Анджелеса
полинезийский
Христа ради
В кабриолете мы же у всех на виду.
Малибу – престижный курорт на побережье Тихого океана в южной части штата Калифорния