The Passenger (The Passenger, #1)(90)

Three days later the Kid was back.

You missed my birthday, she said.

Yeah. Too bad. Have you looked in the mirror lately?

No.

You look like shit.

Nice.

You and Bobbykins have split the blanket I take it.

We havent split anything.

He paced. Odd the way the world is. How you can have just about anything except what you want.

It’s none of your business.

Of course one can only conjecture. Not sure what might have transpired at Christmas down there in the kingdom of coital cattle or whatever the fuck they call it.

It’s none of your business.

You said that.

And where are the dear chimericals? They’ve yet to materialize. To coin a phrase. Should I look in the closet?

Do you know what you weigh?

No. Do you?

Yeah. Benchmark territory. You hit ninety-nine pounds yesterday.

He paused to study her. Then he began to pace again. He threw one flipper up. Dont say anything. I dont want to hear it.

I wasnt going to say anything.

You just did. When did you eat last?

I dont know. I didnt write it down.

You’ve what? Abandoned your shrinks to their contemplative world of self-abuse?

She shrugged.

Yeah. Right.

You never liked any of them anyway.

I dont know. They seemed a harmless lot. Except possibly for the groping. I was never sure what it was that everybody was supposed to get out of it. Not sure what it was they saw standing there. Young girl with an edge to her. Nightbites and a nervous cough. Cute though. Possibly bangable. This last one had scary teeth I think you said if I remember right.

You do. He did.

Yeah, well. We worry about pretty much everything you undertake on your own hook. It’s our job. It all comes down to who you decide to listen to. We dont go around telling you that they dont exist. A pretty liberalhearted lot by all accounts. I dont see a lot of structure there. They probably dont understand that a good bit of bad news has its origins in people not eating their vegetables. Which while we’re on the subject what sort of country girl wont eat grits? When did that start?

I never liked grits.

You broke your grandmother’s heart.

I broke my grandmother’s heart because I wouldnt eat grits.

Yes.

That’s ridiculous.

That and insisting on calling dinner lunch and supper dinner. You and your brother. What are you smiling about?

Nothing. It’s just that sometimes I think I would have found my life pretty funny if I hadnt had to live it.

Funny.

Yeah.

The Kid paused, his chin in one flipper. She knelt in her nightshift at the feet of the Logos itself, he said. And begged for light or darkness but not this endless nothing.

I dont care that you read my diary you know. My letters. And I never wrote about myself in the third person.

Yeah well. We’re friends. We can correct each other’s grammar.

I’m going to bed.

Are you going to brush your teeth and say your prayers?

Not tonight.

I’m putting together some new acts. I would do the auditions here but I know how you love surprises. Should have something on the boards in a couple of weeks.

I cant wait.

He went to pacing again. Emaciation’s really not your best look, you know. Besides which we seem to be looking at a level of dishevelment I’m not sure we’ve seen before.

I’m going to bed now.

You said that. I’m worried you might be fixin to cut and run.

Where to?

Dunno. What can we do for you? You never ask.

You never listen.

You dont know what might be on the table. Rare gifts. Gilded feathers from an ancient bird. A calculus from the inward parts of a beast long extinct or a small figure crafted from an unknown metal.

I wont hold my breath.

Yeah.

Unreal artifacts in warrant of an unreal world.

Yeah well. Still it’s a lovely thought. Dont you think?

No I dont. Good night.



* * *





She took the train to O’Hare and boarded a plane at eight twenty at night and flew to Dallas and checked into a hotel at the airport. In the morning she got a flight to Tucson where two hours later she had a job at a bar called Someplace Else. She rented a room at the rear of a house on Mabel Street and then drove the rental car north out of the city and went hiking in the mountains. The day was cool and sunny. Lying in the shale she watched two ravens in a china sky. Touching softly in midflight a thousand feet above the side of the mountain. Tipping and wheeling on the updraft. The slow shadows of clouds crossed the desert floor below. She chucked the heels of her boots into the loose scree and lay back in the winter sun. When she looked up the ravens were gone. She spread her arms. Wind in the sparse grass among the rocks. Silence.

The Kid arrived in about a week. He was waiting for her when she came in from work at two in the morning. He didnt even look up. Sitting in the worn leather chair in the corner of the room reading her notebook. I guess, he said, that the plan all along was to get down here as soon as possible so that you could discuss topology with Jimmy Anderson.

How did you know his name?

It’s on the check. I cant say much for the pay scale.

We get tips. It’s a bar.

Someplace Else.