Sirens, page 20
beating before he gets down to fist fucking you. So far, so good. '
suppose ... just suppose that innocent blond exterior is hiding the soul
of a psycho. He decides maybe he won't untie you after all. He goes
through the house, taking your money, jewellery, starts to break up the
place and then he comes back to begin work on you --@ her fists over her
ears. ,@!$,top itp Daina cried, clapping it I I Heads turned in their
direction and Frank, the d', came hurrying up to make sure she was all
right. rge waved him away and when they were alone said, ' ct that's
what Yasmin despises in me. I'm such an g bastard most of the time.' He
touched the back 1er hand briefly. ' are committed every day. happened
to your friend isn't unique. It's a conce of -@' don't care about other
people,' Daina said fiercely. ' ie! I consequence of modem living,' he
continued doggedly. one of us knows right from wrong any more. Death has
lost -meaning.$ ,"How can you say that 1' @%ecause, Daina, it's
perfectly true. The dark side of our e has bared its fangs, has taken a
bite and now struggles gain the upper hand, to accelerate the decay.' He
gave her a wide, wicked smile. '-Kalaam, would erstand that, don't you
think?' ' not?' she said. '-Kalaam is a terrorist. You speak a
terrorist.' ' that is precisely the pointp George pressed his palms st
the table. '-Kalaarn is more real than is George vos. I'll admit that I
resented this project at first ... st didn't read for the part. But
Marion, our bloody genius on came and got me out of bed and I read. He
did not anyone else. But I was not yet convinced. He saw right gh to the
heart of the matter while I ivas still floundering d with my ego ...
battling you.' rubbed the edge of his cold glass across his lips until
he s stained with its moisture.
"El-Kalaarres mastered what e sought to understand. And now we're one,
Daina, the orist and me. One.' She left him drinking at the table. It
was impossible for her stay with him longer though there was still some
time before had to head for the airport. She recognized, even as she
walking rather unsteadily to the Merc, that part of her s fascinated'.
wanted to stay. But on another deeper level, 176 177 she had become
terrified. George seemed so out of control that she had begun to shake
as if she were ill. For a long time she sat in the car, the windows all
rolled down. Soon the cool night breeze had dried the sweat along her
hairline but this gentle bathing could not cleanse her off the thoughts
that came creeping in a furtive skimiish line, thoughts she would rather
not face. With a convulsive movement, she inserted the key, fired the
ignition. The rich thrumming, the familiar scent of the exhaust thrown
back at her, masking for an instant the smell of I the sea, was
comforting. She switched on the headlights, headed out, back along
Admiralty Way. She snapped on the radio, turned up the volume, coming in
on mid-song: I like fast companyll' like the sound of danger in your
voicelnow I like to wait until the fire is part of meland you like to
wait until you've got no choice ... Here comes the night againlit turns
me round to face you ... And she laughed loud and hard, pressed the
accelerator down and down, flying away from and moving towards that same
marker; the banner of an un- known champion. Through the great
sparkle-dazzle of the city he took her, up through the darkness of
Central Park with its intermittent icings of Christmas lights like
magical spiderwebs. from Fantasia scalloping the cracked black branches
of the trees. The bright clean horizon was all around a planetarium
cyclorama of tall buildings, the silent sentinels at parade rest
overlooking this sooty wood. Baba, immense beside her in a dark blue
velvet suit heisted no doubt off some Calvin Klein truck on its way down
Seventh Avenue. Nevertheless it fit him perfectly because he had had the
sense to take it in to Herchel, a schneider of the old school, who ran a
beaten-down establishment on Ninth Avenue but turned out impeccable
alterations. As for Daina, she was wearing a shantung silk dress, a
plum-coloured wonder she had weaseled out of her mother with a maximum
of effort. It showed a lot of leg and, because all that held it up were
a pair of spaghetti straps, a great deal 178 eavage than it otherwise
might have. Daina thought it worth every moment of the effort.
-seventeen she was very much filled out and had not had ble ordering
drinks in a bar since she was fifteen. her long hair up away from her
face and had ago had her ears pierced at a jeweller's in the Village
abutted one of the numerous coffee houses she used to t. rolled down the
window of the taxi, let the chill night t with velvet fists against her
cheeks. She opened her until her gums were numb. their way to a party.
Uptown. And the park opened up iled fist for her, softened by the pink
glow of Manhattan, from the spires gilding the foliage with make-believe
ey debarked at an enormous prewar building on 116th just on the
borderline between east and west, at Fifth ree territory,' Baba said as
she stared up at the stuccoconcrete fagade encrusted with gargoyles just
as if it were cient French cathedral. Its architecture was assuredly ean
in inspiration, characteristic of small pockets of Manhattan not yet
levelled by the master urban plan iferating the blight of high-rise city
housing to take care e burgeoning immigrant population or - as some
would e it - members of the multiplying welfare rolls. ''s to come and.
go here.' h stood on the pavement before the ornate entrance.
A sleet had begun to fall and the traffic began to whisper the moisture.
To their left, at the comer, a streetlight blazoned the frozen snow in a
cool halo about its summit. ' make it sound like a war.' He nodded his
shaggy head. '' as hell is, mama. Spics tin' t'move up now.
They's gotta haul it over our asses. It on'y whitey we gots t'watch,
mama.' He took her arm, an to lead her indoors. Baba,' she said, ' d'you
live where you do? I know you It have to.' ' yellow eyes looked at her.
''se comfitable there is all. 179 Ain't nobody hasslin' me. No
petitions t' get me up an' out like that. Jus' me - an outlaw at the
edge o' town.' The lobby was all marble and gilt got up around a series
of ', darkened here and there by the slow disintegration of their silver
backing, making reflections oddly incomplete. To the left a Christmas
tree rainbowed the immediate vicinity, to the right a marble staircase
led upward in shadows. Immediately ahead was a wooden-doored elevator.
She looked through the diamond-shaped window as it descended to street
level. The party was on the seventh floor and they heard the burst of
boisterous noise the moment they stepped off the elevator.
Their host met them at the door. He was an enormously tall black man who
moved with the grace of a giant cat. His hair was but a glistening
stubble@ his nose as sharp as a beak, his wide-set eyes always on the
move, darting here and there as if in search of total security. He
grinned, pumped Baba's hand, leaned down, kissed Daina on the cheek.
"Charming,' he said. '! Guiding them inside the hot, noisy place, his
movements were deft, economical and, as he tamed away, Daina saw the
gold ring in his ear. His name was Stinson. Swirl of movement; swirl of
comment as they were bome into the smoky maelstrom's heart.
Dark faces all around, painted and gay; red lips pouting in bows, doe
eyes opened wide. A great burst of laughter, a single shot, as if from
the entity itself. Baba got them drinks, introduced her around. There
were lawyers and dancers, loan sharks and actors and all seemed
perfectly interchangeable, belonged here after all, bound to this time
and place as if it were a mast. But in their eyes she could see the
longing when they glanced at her. They tried to hide it but they rarely
succeeded. It was her they envied - her innate whiteness: the colour
commodity, the one thing they could not have. Because it allowed her
free access. It was the key to the city. ', Baba, hey. Whatchewsay!" A
short man with a slight limp and light skin sidled up. His face was
lopsided and the skin on the left side was glossy, pulled taut with the
imperfection of plastic surgery. It was oddly hairless - the slight on
the right side of his jaw standing out as if it were grown beard.
ppenin' bro.' He put his arm around Daina's shoulders. here's Trip,
Daina.' Wey hey hey. Bring on the nubiles, Baba, yo sly fox.' Daina
laughed. ''s nice to meet you too.' Trip was delighted. ''man!' he
exclaimed. ''s got a Ofout think even you, you sawed-off sonovabitch,'
Baba said. took a swig of his drink. ', mama, I gots t'go do some ess.
Yo stay with ol' Trip. He'll take care o' yo till I come right bro? '
nuff.' ' know everyone heref Daina asked. He smiled, quite an
unspectacular gesture given the nature his face. ' yah. Ev'yone. Yo want
some introductions? ' blame yo none. That bastard Baba's ugly sumbitch
ain! t ', I don't know. He's -' But she recognized being ribbed broke
off with a laugh. ''s like a teddy bear.' ' yah, mama. Some monster bear
he is. Ah ha! Yo want on that?' '. Sure.' He guided her over to the bar,
began to fix her drink. ''t a little young fo' all this by any chance?'
She looked at him. ' it matter if I weref ' a bit. There you are.' He
handed her the drink. ' ious is all. Baba's always level-headed ...' '?'
And when he would not answer, she provided own. ''s he doing with
someone so young." "None my bizness, mama.' ', it's not.' Music sprayed
over them and they were ped and pushed by dancin couples as they moved
towards 9 sparsely populated wall. All the furniture was filled to
overowing. ' just the same I'll tell you. I don't mind pro- ed ... '?' '
you tell me what you do.' 180 181 'Oh, mama. Yo doan want t'know that."
"But I do.' Trip's odd head bounced back and forth on his neck like a
coil-spring doll. ', oh, oh, yah. Okay, mama. Yo jus' make sure yo doan
tell Baba I tol yo.' She nodded. ' break heads.' In all the commotion
she was certain she had misheard. '?' ', I break heads.' He smiled
sweetly. ', I ain't ashamed. It's an honourable profession. My father
did jus' the same till it caught up with him one day and he was blown
away.' He drummed his fingers against the wall. They were long and thin
and very powerful. They looked like surgeon's fingers. ' mama, if she'd
known, it woulda killed her. But she's daid now so's it doan matter
none. ' t'me of course.' ' you're .. ' small,' he finished for her,
shrugged. ' all say that at first. Size doan make no difference at all,
mama.' He winked at her.
"Now that's a secret if ever there was one. Mos' people, they goes fo'
bulk, y'know. Gives them a sense o' security.' He shook his head. '
bulk, that doan mean nuthin, mama. Yo gots t'know whut t'do with whut yo
gots, y'dig. Yah. Yo gots t'leam yo' trade real well, jus' like anythin'
else. Yo fuck aroun' yo goan get yo' ass handed t'yo, y'dig.' ' I don't
understand why you'd choose -' ' His eyes got hard and she could feet a
sudden tenseness come into him. ''t got nuthin t'do with choosin', mama.
That's fo' white folks who gots the time t'go tcollege.
I didn't choose nuthin. I am where I am ' I gots t'be. Ain't no two ways
' it. Shit! ' muthafucka comes in, blows my father away, whut am I
s'posed t'do? Sit there an' cry ' it? No way, mama! I went out carryin'
my father's -357 Magnum in both hands an' while the bastard was gettin'
into his Continental, I says, "'Scuse me, suh, but they's something on
yo' windshield." An' pulled the trigger on that mutha.
Blast like t'throw me back ten feet, put a hole in the screen big enough
tdrive a semi through. I took a peek in an' upchucked all over that
muthafucka's velvet seats ' the bastard lost his head, 182 blood like
the Roosevelt s' a. dark stump in there, pumpin He stared at her.
"That was my choice, mama, if y' c'n call it that.' Xc" ' happened after
that?' ' happened. Shit but yo iggorent, chile. They come me.
The bastard had a lotta friends.' He smiled now as at a fond memory.
"But I was learnin' fast. There were cts out on most of ' so I made my
first money while ' killed them all? You're not serious.' ' I am, mama.
But doan yo go askin' Baba. Sho enough __@,he'd kick my tailfeather if
he knew I shot off ni'mouth t'yo Aike this.' ' told you I wouldn't say
anything,' she said. ' just want ',to know ... You're not pulling my leg
or anything?' ' I wanna do that, mama? Shit I doan joke ' these things,
yo ask anyone here. Hey hey, yo ask Stinson, okay. o on.' ' yes,'
Stinson said, his eyebrows raised. ''s most "serious about those
matters. I must say he's a most comforting to have as a friend. Very
loyal.' He smiled, stroked her , ir. ' you having a good time?' '
couldn't be having a better time,' she said.
"But I'm rious about one thing.' ' is that, little darlin'?' ' do they
survive?' ', well, lots of times they don't or, even more likely, they
@run their course, if you know what I mebm. But of course that's that
life is anyway, running one's course.' ' it's such a - clandestine way
to live.' He smiled again. ' that's part of its appeal, isn't it. ere
they are wanted, admired, known - they even tread the ath of gods in
many ways. What more could there be for em? They possess here a kind of
fulfilment that blots out e pain of their past, of the early breakup of
their family its. That's a very strong pull, the family. It's what
drives em on, really, because it's all they could ever count as their n
when they were children.' ' talk as if you're above all this - not part
of it .. 183 A peculiar look came into Stinson's eyes and he blinked
sev times. ', well. I suppose that's my own way of ... putting those
memories aside. Not to forget, mind; never to forget, oh no. Only to get
on with the present without allowing the past to entangle you so.' He
looked down at her as if from Olympian heights.
"I am a dancer, Daina. I don't shoot anyone. Yet in your world I am as
much a pariah as is Trip. He regarded her for a moment as if at last she
had taken him out of himself. ' that you are here,' he said slowly, 'at
this very moment. That you areret afraid ''s Baba.' He gave her a
peculiar look. '. Quite right of course. But you're here all the same.
You must have come to Baba rather than the other way around I imagine.'
', that's so.' ' then. You came. But not a runaway per se. At least not
as we've come to know runaways. You didn't come to whore or to get a
fix.' He put a forefinger gently against his lips.'Then why did you
come?) ''m ... I doet think I'm quite sure." "Well' - he stroked her
hair again 7 ' doesn! t really matter now. But it will,'he mused. ' will
... I ',' Trip said, coming up, ''d this sumbitch tell you? What a
twisted muthafucka I am?' ' of the kind,' Daina said. ' fact, just the
opposite! Trip looked from her to Stinson. ' is that so? Mighty decent
of yo, bro P ',' Stinson said, ' nothing whatsoever to do with it.) ''d
he say?' Trip giggled. ' mean whatd th' mutha say? Baby, it's gettin!
so's a hardworkin' street nigga cain't unnerstan'yo no mo'.' ', Trip.
Cut the act in front of this lady. Who you think you're foolin with that
bit?' ' yo mouthin', baby?' ', Daina, it's this way. Trip figures the
less seriously you take him, the easier it's going to be to waste you
one day. And you know something? He's absolutely right! He turned to 184
now. ' you know something else, baby, this is a party Ain't no bizness
goin' down for you here. This here's territory. It's off limits to the
big bang and all that rough stuff.' He poked a forefinger into Trip's
chest. ease up a mite. Relax and enjoy yourself.' ""Hey, baby, yo go an'
relax fo' jus' a moment an' tha's when come an' scrape yo off the walls.
Listen, neman. I know it took fo' me t'get here, y'dig?' ey, baby,'
Stinson said, in an excellent parody of Trip's ' ain't no fun a'tall.'
He grinned and left them. -'Where's Baba?' Daina asked, looking around.
And saw the hair, the pale eyes of Aurelio Ocasio. He had just come the
door. He wore a chestnut-coloured suit with a red tion in the
buttonhole, a brown cashmere overcoat over shoulders as if he were
