Eddy made a lot of money this year and he’s going to make more. He can see a structure to things, now: people, institutions, certain days. All he has to do is walk up and hold out his hands.
The tailbrain’s paid for itself a dozen times over, and it wasn’t cheap. Eddy buys clean yellow Peruvian, keeps a string of boys, eats real horse steak. He can even afford the icy wash that wrings his muscles clean every morning.
Eddy doesn’t know how to ask his tailbrain what his body does at night, but even if he did, he wouldn’t.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
LET’S PLEASURE THE ECHO OF STROLLERS and in Kyoto, Jewel rides easy on the cultural shockwave. She’s still unsure whether it’s offensive to call it “Engrish,” but there’s so much of it, on buildings, plaques, t-shirts and windows–
“Kino,” she says, playing with the runes in her pocket.
“Mmm,” he says.
“What do you do with a wasted language?”
“Recycle it.”
“Right.” She pulls the runes out: Ansuz, Raidho, Thurisaz. “Use it to hold the words that aren’t meant for conversation.”
“Curse words?” He tilts his head. “Magic words?”
Jewel looks around again, seeing abjuration, invocation, bindings and secret names.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
The crank key looks like the ones on old tin windup toys, except this one detaches when you’re done. Crane pops it out, and sets the ambulance chaser next to the dark red puddle (not on top; don’t want to gum up the jonnenry). It peels out with a whine, leaving a hot magnet stripe.
“You’re sure it’ll find him?” asks Dogcatcher. Crane’s silent. She tests a spearpoint. “I don’t like these gadgets. Still weather and an arm to twist… I mean, what are you charging for, if it does all the work?”
“We don’t win,” grunts Crane, “you don’t pay.”
Thursday, February 23, 2006
“Your grandmother is in this blade,” says Rainn’s father. “Its bones are her bones. You will never sharpen it, and while your heart beats it will not break.” He finishes running his little lathe over the tang and nods.
Rainn caps the mold and they take the handles to walk side by side. The kiln’s not lit, but he can already feel the draw from the chimney: tugging his hair, begging at him, promising fire.
“It’s hungry,” says Rainn.
“Good,” says his father. “That’s the first thing it should know.”
They leave the china in the oven and shut the door.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
“You’re a mud pie.” Amber tops his head with grass.
“I’m the king of the forest,” Doug says gravely. “Except grass gives you chiggers. Brain chiggers, and I die.”
“The king can cure chiggers,” she says.
“Isn’t that scrofula?”
Amber’s suddenly tired. “Okay. I guess you’re dead then, sorry.”
“Is this just the pattern with us?” Doug asks. “Leap and leap and it’s all very lovely, until one of us asks where we’re going to land?”
She rolls away, then rolls back. “Maybe we keep jumping.”
“Might land in a mud pie.”
“I always,” says Amber, “ate the damn things anyway.”
“When did you stop playing to win?” asks Iblis, pouring glass beads into the pattern that spells Hunger.
“I never started.” Leto’s amused, and moves her tokens one by one into the simple line called Love. “How do you keep score?”
Iblis steals Leto’s lead token to make the Sword. “Subjectively. The most aesthetically pleasing progression.”
“We’re unfit to judge that.” Slide and clack: Leto builds Ovens.
“Better bad judges than no judges.” Dirt, then Iblis pays for a reset to Hunger. “What’s a game without victory?”
Leto just sweeps the board clean with one arm.
Which is called Love Again.
Raj walks by the alley. There’s mist and blue light in there, and it goes like: OOOMMM
Raj actually has to take an alley as a shortcut. It’s not the same alley, but the first alley somehow opens off in the middle of this one. It sounds like those monks on the Chant CD look. Raj wonders what ever happened to Chant.
After dinner, when Raj closes the refrigerator door, the alley is squeezed between its white bulk and the wall. OOOMMM
“Look, I’m not going to feed you,” says Raj.
OOOMMM
“Whatever,” says Raj.
Later it hides under his bed.