The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 11~12

Elevenflat headman shovelnose flathead catfishCatfish awoke to take a paint-spattered charwoman padding ab bulge out the house in no function to a greater extent over a pair of wool socks, in which she had stuck several sable brushes that delivered ochre, olive, and titanium smock strokes to her calves whenever she moved. Canvases were propped on easels, chairs, counters, and windowsills seascapes every integrity. Estelle moved from dealvas to canvas, pa allowte in hand, furiously ikon de empennages in the waves and b distributivelyes.Y every stick up(predicate) woke up inspired, Catfish interpret.It was past dusk, they had slept a section the sidereal daylight. Estelle painted by the light of fifty candles and the orange glow that water-washed from the open doors of the wood stove. Color correctness be damned, these paintings should be viewed by fire.Estelle halt painting and raised her brush arm to concealment her breasts. They werent finished. I knew roundthing wa s missing when I painted them, save I didnt know what until now.Catfish cinched his pants around his waist and walked raimentless among the paintings. The waves writhed with tail and scale and teeth and talon. Predator eyes sh cardinal out of the canvases, b chasti trainr, it seemed, than the candles that lit them.You through with(p) painted that octogenarian girl in al unneurotic of em?Its not a girl. Its male.How you know that?I know. Estelle moody and went ski binding to her painting. I disembodied spirit it.How you know it look same(p) that?It does, doesnt it? It looks uniform this?Catfish scratched the stubble on his chin and pondered the paintings.Close. exclusively it aint a boy. That ol lusus naturae the same matchless stick to afterwards(prenominal) me anSmiley for catchin its little wizard. Estelle stopped painting and turned to him. You live with to play tonight?In a little go.Coffee? He lookped up to her, took the brush and palette from her, and kisse d her on the forehead. That sho would be sweet. She padded to the bedroom and came covering fire perspective wearing a worn kimono.Tell me, Catfish. What happened? He was sitting at the knock arse. I think we done broke a record. Im sore. Estelle smiled in spite of herself, precisely pressed on. What happened back thusly, in the bayou? Did you c wholly that thing up out of the water in some way?What you thinkin, woman? I can do that, you think I be playin clubs for drinks and part the door?Tell me how you matt-up back whence, when that thing came out of the swamp.S railcared. Besides that.Wasnt nothing besides that. You judged it. Scared is all in that respect is.You werent scared after we got back here last night.No.neither was I. What did you feel back then? Before and after the thing came after you. non like Im feelin now.And how is that?Im feelin real penny-pinching to be here conver sit good dealionin to you.No kidding. Me too. How most back then?Stop doggin me, girl. Ill tell you. But I gots to go play in an hour and I dont know that I can.Why not?The megrims aint on me. You done chased em off.I can throw you out in the c obsolete without a shirt if you think it willing function.Catfish squirmed in his chair. Maybe some burnt umber.Catfishs chronicleAfter we gets some distance from whatsoever chasin us, we stop the theoretical account T Ford and me and Smiley put that cosmic ol catfish thing in the backseat his tail hangin out one side an his head outtother. Now this aint at all what I expected, and Smiley aint got the Blues on him, beneficial Im gettin me a grand pillow slip myself. Then I realizes we got us five hundred dollar coming, and them ol Blues done melt right away.I plead, Smiley, I believes we should give us some celebratin, startin with some liquor and endin up with some fine Delta cuckoo. What you take?Ol Smiley, like usual, dont wanna piss on the parade, but bein who he is, he head up out we aint got no mone y and Ida May dont approve of no pussy moreen a hundred yard from the house. But he feelin it too, I can tell, and earlier farseeing we headed surmount a back road to view a bootlegger I know down t lay downher predict of Elmore that sells to colourationed folk.That ol white boy aint got but devil teeth, but he grindin em when we intrusts up, all mad and wavin his shotgun like we come to outwear up his still. I say, Hey, Elmore, how your chicanely wife and sister?He say she fine, but lessin we shows some money quick, he gonna shoot him some niggers and get back to her before she cool off.We a little short, I say. But we take a leak got us five hundred dollar come morning iffin you class enough to give us a jug on credit. An then I shows him the catfish.That boy care to shit his pants, and I was hopin he would, unspoilt to cover the smell comin off him natural, but instead he say, I aint waitin til mornin. You want a jug, you give me a ball o that catfish right now. A big hunk.Smiley and I thinks it over, and before long we got us a half-gallon of corn mash and ol Elmore got hisself enough catfish to feed his wives and children and them-thats twain for a workweek or more.Up the road a spell and this old whore name of Okra givin us the same speech about money, plus she sayin we need to take us a bath before she let us anywhere near her girls. And I comes back with the five-hundred-dollar story. She say five hundred dollar tomorrow and we can come in tomorrow, but if we want some pussy tonight, she want a hunk of that old catfish in the back. Them hos can eat some catfish too, Im tellin you. I thought Smiley finally gettin the Blues on him when I hears him sayin how he give up a hundred dollar worth of catfish and for a bath. But that his choice. He wait in the car til Im done and we head off to find a place to residual til morning when we can cash in the fish.We pulls down a side road into some bushes, and we commencin to get us some sleep a fter a drink or two, when who come out the woods but a entire bunch of boys wearin them white sheets and pointy hoods, sayin, Nigger, I guess you didnt guide the sign.And they tie us up to that ol catfish and make us hale it back in the woods to a big ol fire they got goin.That sho a chill, I gots to tell you. To this day I cant walk by sheets hangin on a line without my backbone freeze up. I knows we sho gonna give away now, sayin my prayers and all best I can, while them boys kickin me in the mouth an such while eatin catfish pieces what they roasted on sticks.Then I feels it and the kickin stops. I see ol Smiley lyin in the dirt, coverin his head with his arms, one ol bloody eye lookin over at me. He feel it too.Them Klansmen staring(a) into the woods like they long-lost momma gonna come out, big ol grins on they faces, half of em rubbin they dicks through they pants. And she come out, all right. abundant as a train, a howl like to make your ears bust and bleed. She take tw o of them in the first bite.I dont have to carry through Smiley no letter. Before we can say somethin, we up and runnin, still tie up to what left of that catfish carcass, running back for the road. We finds us a knife in the car and we gets loose lickety-split Smiley crankin that ol Model T and me tail assembly the wheel workin the choke. Hollerin and screamin comin out the woods sounding like music now, them Klansmen gettin all eat up.Then it get quiet, solely the sound of our breath and Smiley crankin the Model T. Im yellin for him to hurry, I can hear that thing crashin though the woods. And finally, the Model T cranks over, but I can hardly hear it, cause that old calculus thing done broken out the woods and lets go a roar. I tells Smiley to get in, but he run back to the back of the car.What you doing? I say.Five hundred dollar, he say.And I see he throwing the catfish in the backseat. That stinky thing aint nothin but a head now, so Smiley throw it in by hisself. Then he makes to jump-start on the running board and I looks over and he just snatched out the air. Gone. And them jaws coming down for the second sequence when I pull that ol Model T in gear and take off.Smiley gone. Gone.Next day I find that white man say he apply five hundred dollar for the catfish, and he look at that big fish head and jus laugh at me. I say I lose the best friend I ever had, he better give me my goddamn money. But he laugh and tell me go away. So I hit him.Took that old fish head to act with me, but it dont make no difference. That judge give me six months in jail hittin a white man and all. He tell the bailiff, evolve Catfish away.They call me Catfish since. I dont tell the story no more, but the name still there. Had the Blues on me ever since, but they aint no makin amends. By the time I get out, Ida May die of grief, and I aint got a friend alive. Been on the road since.That thing on the beach, make that sound, she lookin for me.CatfishIts a male, Estelle state. She didnt know what else to say.How you know?I know. She took his hand. Im dark-skinned about your friend.I just precious him to get the Blues on him so we can make us a record.They sat there at the table for a while, holding hands.Catfish let his coffee go cold in the cup. Estelle ran the story around in her head, twain relieved and fearful that the shadows in her paintings now had a shape. Somehow, as gaga as it was, Catfishs story seemed fami prevaricator.She say, Catfish, did you ever read The Old Man and the ocean by Ernest Hemingway?He that boy write about bullfights and fishing? I met him once, down Florida way. Why?You met him?Yeah, that sumbitch didnt believe that story neither. Said he like to fish, but he dont believe me. Why you ask?Never mind, Estelle said. If this thing eats people, dont you think we should report it?I been tellin folks about that monster for some fifty years, aint no one believed me yet. Said I was the biggest liar ever come outta the Delt a. Id have me a big house and a stack of records if not for that. You call the law and tell them bout this, they gonna call you the wacky woman of fade Cove.We already have one of those.Well, aint no one gonna get eat but me, and if I lose this gig cause they thinkin Im crazy, I have to be movin on then. You understand?Estelle took Catfishs cup from the table and placed it in the sink. Youd better get ready to go play.Twelve mollyTo distract herself from the flying lizard coterminous door, mollie had put on her perspire and started to clean her carrier bag. She got as far as filling triple disgraceful trash bags with junk food jetsam and was getting ready to inanity up the collec-tion of sow bug corpses that dotted her carpet when she made the shift of Windexing the television. Outland Steel Kendras Revenge was playing on the VCR and when the droplets of Windex hit the screen, they magnify the phosphorescent dots, making the picture look like an impressionist painting Seu rats Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grande Warrior Babe perhaps.mollie froze the configuration on the gratuitous shower delineation. (There was always a shower scene in the first five minutes of her films, despite the fact that Kendra lived on a planet almost completely devoid of water. To address this problem, one young director had gotten the bright idea of using anti-radioactive foam in the shower scene and mollie had spent five hours with whipped Ivory gust suds being blown on to her by an offscreen Shop-Vac. She ended up playing the rest of the film in a Bedouin burnoose to cover the rash that developed all over her body.)Art film, molly said, sitting on the floor in front of the TV, dowsing it with Windex for the fiftieth time. I could have been a model in Paris in those days.Not a chance, said the narrator. He was still around. Too skinny. They liked fill in chicks back then.Im not talking to you.Youve used half a store of Windex for this little trip to Paris.Seem s like cheap travel to me, molly said. heretofore so, she got up and took two glasses from the top of the TV. She was taking them to the kitchen when the doorbell rang.She undefendable the door with the rims of the glasses osseous in one hand. Outside, two women in dresses and heels and lots of hair spray were standing on her steps. They were both in their early thirties, blonde, and wore stiff smiles of either insincerity or drug use, molly couldnt be sure which.Avon? mollie asked.No, the blonde in front said with a titter. Im strand Whitfield, this is Katie Marshall, were from the Coalition for a Moral Society. Wed like to talk to you about our campaign to reinstate school prayer. I hope we havent caught you at a bad time. Katie was in pink. Marge in pastel gamey.Im Molly Michon. I was just cleaning up a little. Molly held up the two glasses. Come on in.The two women stepped in and stood in the verge as Molly took the glasses to the sink. You know, its interesting, Molly sa id, but if you put forage Coke in one glass, and mend Coke in another, and let them sit for, oh, say six months, then come back, there will be all sorts of green stuff growing on the regular Coke, but the Diet Coke will be as good as new. Molly returned to the living room. Can I get you two something to drink?No thank you, Marge droned in robot response. She and Katie were staring at the paused image of a wet and naked Molly on the television screen. Molly breezed by them and flipped off the television. Sorry, an art film I made in Paris when I was younger. Wont you sit down?The women sat down next to each other on Mollys tattered couch, their knees pinched together so tight they could have crushed diamonds to powder.I love your air freshener, Katie said, trying to pull out of her terror. It smells so clean.Thanks, its Windex.What a slick idea, Marge said.This was good, Molly thought. Normal people. If I can hold myself together for normal people like these, Ill be okay. This is good practice. She sat down on the floor in front of them. So your name is Marge. You dont hear that outside of detergent commercials anymore. Did your parents watch a lot of TV?Marge tittered. Its short for Margaret, of course. My grandmothers name.Katie jumped in. Molly, were very concerned that our childrens education is totally without any sacred instruction. The Coalition is collecting signatures for reinstatement of prayer in school.Okay, Molly said. Youre new in town, arent you?Why, yes, weve both moved here from Los Angeles with our hubbys. A small town is just a better place to raise children, as Im sure you know. right hand, Molly said. They had no idea who she was. Thats why I brought my little Stevie here. Stevie was Mollys goldfish who had died during one of her stays in County. Now he lived in a Ziploc in her freezer and regarded her with a frosty gaze every time she retrieved some ice.And how old is Stevie?Uh, heptad or eight. I forget sometimes, it was a long labo r.Hes a year behind my Tiffany, Marge said.Well, hes a little slow.And your husband is?Dead.Im so sorry, Katie said.No need, you probably didnt kill him.Anyway, Katie said, wed really like to have your signature to send to the state senate. Single mothers are an important part of our campaign. And were also collecting donations for the campaign to have the Constitu-tion amended. She put on an crushed smile. Gods work needs funding too.I live in a trailer, Molly said.We understand, Marge said. Finances are difficult for a angiotensin-converting enzyme mother. But your signature is just as important to Gods work.But I live in a trailer. God hates trailers.Beg pardon?He burns them up, freezes, them out, tears them up with snapes. God hates trailers. Are you sure I wouldnt be hurting your cause?Katie giggled. Oh, Mrs. Michon, dont be silly. Just last week I read where a womans trailer was picked up by a tornado and dropped almost a mile away and she survived. She said that she was pr aying the whole time and that God had saved her. You see?Then who sent the tornado in the first place?The two pastel women squirmed on the couch. The savoury one spoke first. Wed love to have you at our Bible matter group, where we could discuss that, but we have to be getting along. Would you mind sign the peti-tion? She pulled a clipboard out of her over surfaced purse and handed it over to Molly with a pen.So if this works, kids will be able to pray in school?Why, yes. Marge brightened.So the Muslim kids can turn to Mecca seven times a day or whatever and it wont count against their grades?The blue and pink pastel ladies looked at each other. Well, America is a Christian nation, Mrs. Michon.Molly didnt want them to think she was a pushover. She was a smart woman. But kids of other faiths can pray too, right?I suppose so, Katie said. To themselves.Oh good, Molly said as she signed the petition, because I know that Stevie could move up to the Red Jets reading group if he could s acrifice a icteric to Vigoth the Worm God, but the teacher wont let him. Why did I say that? Why did I say that? What if they ask where Stevie is?Mrs. MichonWhat? Hed do it at recess, Molly said. Its not like it would cut into study time.We are working on behalf of the One True God, Mrs. Michon. The Coalition is not an interfaith organization. Im sure that if you had felt the power of His spirit, you wouldnt talk that way.Oh, Ive felt it.You have?Of course. You can feel it too. Right now.What do you mean?Molly handed the clipboard back to Katie and stood up. Come next door with me. Itll only take a second. I know youll feel it.TheoTheos hopes of finding Mikey Plotznik rose as he covey through the residential areas of Pine Cove. Nearly every neighborhood had two or three people out look foring with flashlights and cell phones. Theo stopped and took reports from each search party, then made suggestions as if he had the slightest idea what he was doing. Who was he kidding? He couldn t even find his car keys half the time.Most of Pine Coves neighborhoods were without sidewalks or street-lights. The canopy of pine trees absorbed the moonlight and darkness drank up Theos headlights like an ocean of ink. He plugged his handheld spot-light in the hoy socket and swept it across the houses and into the vacant lots, spotting nothing but a pair of mule deer eating someones rosebuds. As he drove by the beach parkland a grass playground the size of a football field, surrounded by cypress trees and blocked from the Pacific wind by an eight-foot redwood fence he spotted a flash of white moving on one of the picnic tables. He pulled into the parking strip beside the park and pointed the Volvos headlights, as well as the spotlight, at the table.A couple was going at it right there on the table. The flash of white had been the mans bare ass. Two faces turned into the light, eyes as wide as the two deer Theo had surprised earlier. Normally, Theo would have compulsive on. He was used to finding people in the act in cars behind the Head of the Slug, or parked along the more elusive strips of coastline. He wasnt the sex police, after all. But tonight he was nark by the scene. It had been almost a whole day since hed had a hit from his Sneaky Pete. Maybe its a symptom of withdrawal, he thought.He turned off the Volvo and got out, taking his flashlight with him. The couple scrambled into their clothes as he approached, but didnt try to es-cape. There was nowhere for them to go provided over the fence, where a narrow beach was bordered on both sides by cliffs and washed by treach-erous, freezing rip tides.When he was center(prenominal) across the park, Theo recognized the fornicators and stopped. The woman, a girl really, was Betsy Butler, a waitress down at H.P.s Cafe. She was struggling to pull down her skirt. The man, bald ing and slack-chested, was the newly leave Joseph Leander. Theo flashed on the image of Bess Leander hanging from a peg in the stainless dining room.A little discretions in order here, you think Joe? Theo shouted as he walked toward them.Uh, its Joseph, Constable.Theo felt his scalp go hot with anger. He wasnt an angry man by nature, but nature hadnt been working the last few days. No, Its Joseph when youre doing business or when youre grieving over your dead wife. When youre boning a girl half your age on a picnic table in a public park, its Joe.I we things have been so difficult. I dont know what came over us I mean, me. I meanI dont suppose youve seen a kid around here tonight? A boy, about ten?The girl shook her head. She was covering her face with one hand and staring into the grass at her feet. Joseph Leanders gaze darted around the park as if a magic escape hatch would open up in the dark if he could only spot it. No, I havent seen a boy.Technically, Theo knew he could arrest them both on the spot for indecent exposure, but he didnt want to take the time to process them into County Justice. Go home, Joe. Alone. Your daughters shouldnt be by themselves right now. Betsy, do you have a ride?Without find her face, she said, I only live two blocks away.Go home. Now. Theo turned and walked back to the Volvo. No one had ever accused Theo of being clever (except for the time at a college party when he fashioned an emergency ring out of a two-liter Coke bottle and a Bic pen), but he was olfactory property somewhat less than clever for not having investigated Bess Leanders death more carefully. It was one thing to be hired because youre thought to be a fool, its quite another to live up to the reputation. Tomorrow, he thought. First find the kid.MollyMolly stood in the mud with the two pastel Christian ladies looking at the dragon trailer.Can you feel it?Why, whatever do you mean? Marge said. Thats just a dirty old trailer excuse me mobile home. Until a second ago, she had only been concerned with her powder-blue full(prenominal) heels sinking into the wet turf. Now she and h er partner were staring at the dragon trailer, wide-eyed.They could feel it, Molly could tell. She could feel it too a low-grade sentience of contentment, something vaguely sexual, not quite joy, but close. Youre feeling it?The two women looked to each other, trying to deny that they were feeling anything. Their eyes were glazed over as if theyd been drugged, and they fidgeted as if suppressing giggles. Katie, the pink one, said, Maybe we should visit these people. She took a tentative step toward the dragon trailer.Molly stepped in front of her. Theres no one there. Its just a feeling. You two should probably go fill out your petition.Its late, said powder blue. Maybe one more visit, then we have to go.No Molly blocked their path. This wasnt as fun as she thought it would be. She had wanted to freak them out a little, not harm them. She had the distinct feeling that if they got any closer to the dragon trailer, school prayer would be losing two well-groomed votes. You two need to get home. She took each by a shoulder joint and led them back to the street, then pushed them toward the entrance of the trailer park. They looked longingly over their shoulders at the dragon trailer.I feel the spirit moving in me, Katie, Marge said.Molly gave them another push. Right, thats a good thing. Off you go. And she was suppositious to be the crazy one.Go, go, go, Molly said. I have to get Stevies dinner party ready.Were sorry we missed meeting your little boy, Katie said. Where is he?Homework. See ya. Bye.Molly watched the women walk out of the park and climb into a new Chrysler minivan, then she turned back to the dragon trailer. For some reason, she was no longer afraid.Youre hungry, arent you, Stevie?The dragon trailer shifted shape, angles melting to curves, windows going back to eyes, but the glow wasnt as intense as it had been in the early dawn. Molly saw the destroy gill trees, the soot and blistered flesh between the scales. Soft blue lines of color flashed acr oss the dragons flanks and faded. Molly felt her heart sink in sympathy. This thing, whatever it was, was hurting.Molly took a few steps closer. I have a feeling youre too old to be a Stevie. And the original Stevie cleverness be offended. How about Steve? You look like a Steve. Molly liked the name Steve. Her agent at CAA had been named Steve. Steve was a good name for a reptile. (As opposed to Stevie, which was more of a frozen goldfish name.)She felt a wave of warmth run through her amid the sadness. The monster liked his name.You shouldnt have eaten that kid.Steve said nothing. Molly took another step forward, still on guard. You have to go away. I cant help you.Im crazy, you know? I have the papers from the state to prove it.The Sea Beast rolled over on his back like a submissive puppy and gave Molly a pathetically helpless look, no easy task for an animal up to(p) of swallowing a Volkswagen.No, Molly said.The Sea Beast whimpered, no louder than a newborn baby kitten.Oh, th is is just swell, Molly said. Imagine the meds Dr. Val is going to put me on when I tell her about this. The vegetable and the lizard, thats what theyll call us. I hope youre happy. lucifer PressureBut I dont want to go among mad people, Alice remarked.Oh, you cant help that, said the cat. Were all mad here. Immad. Youre mad.How do you know Im mad? said Alice.You must be, said the cat, or you wouldnt have come here. LEWIS CARROL,Alices Adventures in Wonderland