The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hated, by Frederik Pohl

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Title: The Hated

Author: Frederik Pohl

Illustrator: Dick Francis

Release Date: July 24, 2009 [EBook #29503]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE HATED

By PAUL FLEHR

_After space, there was always
one more river to cross ... the
far side of hatred and murder!_

Illustrated by DICK FRANCIS

The bar didn't have a name. No name of any kind. Not even an indication
that it had ever had one. All it said on the outside was:

Cafe
EAT
_Cocktails_

which doesn't make a lot of sense. But it was a bar. It had a big TV set
going ya-ta-ta ya-ta-ta in three glorious colors, and a jukebox that
tried to drown out the TV with that lousy music they play. Anyway, it
wasn't a kid hangout. I kind of like it. But I wasn't supposed to be
there at all; it's in the contract. I was supposed to stay in New York
and the New England states.

Cafe-EAT-_Cocktails_ was right across the river. I think the name of the
place was Hoboken, but I'm not sure. It all had a kind of dreamy feeling
to it. I was--

Well, I couldn't even remember going there. I remembered one minute I
was downtown New York, looking across the river. I did that a lot. And
then I was there. I don't remember crossing the river at all.

I was drunk, you know.

* * * * *

You know how it is? Double bourbons and keep them coming. And after a
while the bartender stops bringing me the ginger ale because gradually I
forget to mix them. I got pretty loaded long before I left New York. I
realize that. I guess I had to get pretty loaded to risk the pension and
all.

Used to be I didn't drink much, but now, I don't know, when I have one
drink, I get to thinking about Sam and Wally and Chowderhead and Gilvey
and the captain. If I don't drink, I think about them, too, and then I
take a drink. And that leads to another drink, and it all comes out to
the same thing. Well, I guess I said it alre