"Yes." Thinking of Blossom, lying on her bed, listening to her chuckle. "No wonder men are so stupid— their brains are all in such a small place."
"You are Wednesday's child, born to sadness. Yes?"
"Yes."
"Many children are born without a father— only the most damned are born without a mother. You know this?"
"Yes."
"Why did you look for this baby?"
"It was a job."
"No."
"I can't explain it, then."
"I know. Listen to me, child of sorrow: the baby is in the water, as you believed. I know this. The man you seek, he worshiped with us. Pretended to worship. The night of the child's death, he came to us. The baby's body in his arms. He said the child had choked to death in his crib. He asked us for a sacrifice. To save the baby's spirit. He thought what you thought…what you are afraid to say…that our offerings contain the bodies…that the baby would be cut up, placed inside the bag. When we told him how we would make the sacrifice, he walked away from us. We thought it was grief then. Now we know the truth— he feared the baby's spirit would walk."
"I understand."
"Do you? Do you understand that you are a baby's spirit? Spirit walking? Go now. You will search for the evil— I see that in you. When the time comes, return to me. I will show you the path."
115
No cars followed us from the house. Rain misted around the Rover, overmatching the puny wipers.
"Where shall I take you, mahn?"
"Anywhere over the bridge."
"You don't want me to see where you live, then?"
"Better you don't know, right? You were planning to drop in one day, have a visit?"
"Maybe I do that, mahn. Bring you some Island beer, sit around, talk some…would that be so bad, now?"
"That's not what I'm saying, Clarence."
"Yes, I know," he said. But his eyes were hurt.
116
I let Pansy out to her roof, ignoring her attitude because I came home without a treat.
I never have to ask myself why something scares me. So much does. A child doesn't fear death— doesn't understand what it is. A child fears pain. Immediate pain. The terror is to remember.
The freaks count on it.
117
I walked all the way to Chinatown the next morning. Stopped at a bakery for a bag of small hard poppy-seed rolls. Chewed them slowly, one at a time. To settle my stomach. Stopped again at a greengrocer, got a handful of fresh parsley and cold bottle of pineapple juice. Sipped it slowly, crossing the still-wet streets, watching.
By the time I got near Mama's, I was munching the parsley, cleaning out my mouth.
The Plymouth was parked in the alley, the rear end too close to the wall. Max could catch flies in the air without hurting them, but he couldn't drive worth a damn.
I knocked on the back door, thinking about Luke in the basement. How basements used to frighten him.
About last night.
One of Mama's crew let me in, nodded his head toward the dining area.
Max was in my booth, the Prof across from him. The little man was rapping away, waving his hands like it was sign language.
I sat down next to Max. One of the waiters brought me a glass of water, went away.
"How'd it go, bro'?" the Prof greeted me.
"Okay. It was okay. I gave them their property. We're all square." I didn't bother to ask him how he knew about the meeting.
I looked over at Max. Spread my hands in a "what?" gesture. He nodded. Rapid-fire universal gestures, the kind you can use anywhere in the world: thumb rubbed against first two fingers, finger pointing straight ahead, same finger making small circles next to his temple. Then he made the sign for "okay." He gave the money to the crazy man, no problems.
The Prof wasn't satisfied yet. "Come on, homeboy. What was the scene with the Queen? What'd she say— how'd it play?"
I ran it all down to him, gesturing for Max. After all these years, I could do it pretty fast. If Max doesn't get something, he lets me know.
"You know what I was thinking, Prof? How I wasn't scared…you understand? I'm in a basement in Corona, some kind of voodoo temple. They decide to do something to me, I'm gone. Nobody'd even hear a shot on that block. Nobody'd care. But I'm calm. From the beginning. Like nothing's gonna happen to me."
"Her game's not pain, bro'."
"Yeah. You believe…? I mean…you understand what she told me?"
"All preachers the same, Burke. They say what makes the people pay."
"You think it's a hustle?"
"You think there's one answer, babe? The Catholics are right about what they sell, then all the Jews are goin' to hell. The Muslims be the only ones who know the way, it's the Buddhists who're gonna pay. Live righteous, the Man knows, whoever he is, get it? Ain't no pie in the sky when you die. Here and now, on the ground…what's true is what you do."
"You think it's all different names for the same thing?"
"Afterwards? Here's the truth…you won't know until you go."
I saw Wesley. In a fiery pit, the stare from his dead eyes chilling the air, the Devil backing into a corner, afraid.
118
I drove to the South Bronx by myself. Muddy Waters for a soundtrack. A live performance from the fifties, taped in Chicago. The Master, still fresh from the Delta then, getting it down right. Shouting about catching the first train smoking. Nobody in the audience thought he was planning to buy a ticket.
The last cut on the tape. "Bad Luck Child."
Terry let me inside, his small face animated with news.
"I got a letter from Mom. She's learning modern dance. She said she'd show me when she comes back."
"Yeah? She tell you to mind the Mole?"
"Sort of. She said to watch out for him. To go with him, when he goes outside but…
"But not when he goes with me, right?"
"Yes. But…"
"It's okay, Terry. I'm not taking the Mole anywhere. I just need to ask him some stuff."
119
The Mole was peering intently into a glass beaker the size of a mason jar, surgical gloves on his hands. I looked over his shoulder. A jet-black spider in a triangular web, a fat bulbous teardrop, glistening. The Mole slowly rotated the jar. On the spider's underside, a bright red hourglass. Black widow.
He took a pair of metal tweezers from his shirt pocket, plucked a piece of white spongy material from his workbench. The white stuff was maybe half the size of the nail on my little finger, a monofilament line strung through it. He took the screen off the top of the beaker, grabbed the line, held the white lump delicately poised over the rim, dangled it gently, slowly letting it descend.
I could feel Terry's kid-breath on my cheek as he pressed forward to get a look. The web trembled as the white lump caught. The spider's legs pawed, reading the vibrations.
Time passed. The spider worked its way toward the lump, confident. The Mole delicately feathered the line— the white lump struggled in the web. Suddenly, the spider shot forward, burying its fangs into the lump, forelegs grasping to immobilize its victim.
After a while, the spider released its grip. It began to exude webbing from its vent, starting to wrap the victim so it could later feast in peace. The Mole pulled up the line. The spider clung fast, refusing to surrender its prize. When the lump neared the top, Terry handed the Mole a can of compressed air with a long needle-nozzle. The Mole hit the button and the spider was blown free, falling harmlessly back to the floor of the beaker.
The Mole dropped the white lump into a petri dish, holding the line taut while Terry clipped it close with a pair of scissors. The Mole capped the petri dish, put it inside a small refrigerator, the last addition to a small, neat row already on the shelf.
"What do you want with black widow venom, Mole?" I asked him.
"Don't know yet."
"Yeah, okay. Can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"You know tinted gla
ss…like they use in limos, so people can't see in?"
The Mole fiddled with some dials on what looked like a transformer they use for electric trains, ignoring my stupid questions. Waiting.
"Well, could you make it so it was reversed? So anyone could see in, but nobody inside could see out? Just the back, not the windshield?"
"Yes," he said. Meaning: sure, stupid.
"Could you do it, like…now?"
"Your car?"
"No. I need a car with…"
"Cold plates," the kid piped up. Michelle would have slapped him.
"Yeah. Just for maybe twenty-four hours. Less."
"With a barrier?"
"Yeah. Like, maybe, a gypsy cab or…"
"We have one, Mole. The old Dodge. Back in the…"
The Mole gave him a look. Terry stared right back. Finally, the Mole nodded. The kid ran upstairs.
120
I watched the Mole carefully measure the windows on the old Dodge, watched him cut the dark film with an X-acto knife, press it into place with a rubber block. Terry used a socket wrench to put on the new plates, changed the oil and filter, checked the battery, fan belt. Ran some kind of gauge on the ignition. "The tires are okay, Burke. But don't go too fast with it."
"It's not for a bank job, kid."
"Oh, I know." Wise little bastard.
When they were done, I walked around the car. From the outside, it looked like a gypsy cab, better condition than most, in fact. I climbed in the back seat. Sat down, closed the door.
Blackout. The Mole had even treated the Plexiglas barrier between the front and back seats with the same material. A blindfold with wheels.
"Perfect, Mole!" I told him.
He nodded, unsurprised. "Prisoner?" he asked.
"No. A volunteer. But they can't know where they're going."
He nodded again. Shambled off. I wasn't even finished with my cigarette when he came back with one of those gooseneck Tensor lamps. When he was done screwing it onto the shelf behind the back seat, you could light up the interior even with the windows closed. Terry removed the door handles and window cranks from the back seat, covering the holes with metal discs.
The Mole got a hose and a battery-powered vacuum. We cleaned it inside and out.
"Thanks, Mole."
He nodded again.
Terry jumped up and down, excited now. "Mole, can I…? You said when Burke came again…"
The Mole shrugged. Nodded again. The kid took off. The Mole held up his hand in a "wait!" gesture to me.
Terry came running back, a fat dirt-colored puppy in his arms.
"Burke! Look, isn't she beautiful!" Setting the puppy on the ground.
I knelt down, rolled the pup over, rubbed her belly. "She sure is, Terry. Where'd you get her?"
"She's Simba's…Simba's and Elsa's. She was born right here— the pick of the litter," he said proudly.
"Which one is Elsa?"
"The one who looks like a bull mastiff. When she went into heat, Simba wouldn't let any of the others near her…Mole explained it to me.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes. Do you like her?"
"Sure. She looks like a real tiger. What's her name?"
"She doesn't have one yet. She's for Luke, okay? Okay, Burke? Please? Mole said I could ask you."
"Terry…"
"Burke, he needs a puppy, he does. She won't be any trouble…she's real smart and all."
I lit a smoke, buying time. The Mole looked away like he was busy with something. No help.
"Terry, Luke's…sick now. He won't always be sick, but…he could hurt the puppy, kid. He wouldn't know what he was doing, but…"
Terry's eyes were his mother's then, Michelle's legacy blazing at me, never backing up. "He wouldn't! I know him too, Burke. I talked to him. He wouldn't."
"Look, maybe…"
"He needs a puppy now, Burke. To make him feel safe. I…promised him."
"You got a blanket for her?" I surrendered.
121
The gypsy cab pulled a little to the left when I tapped the brakes, but otherwise it stumbled along well enough. I looped over the Triboro, caught the FDR south. It was down to two lanes…some construction project…and the yutz in the Lincoln in front of me decided to take his half out of the middle, blocking and guarding so I couldn't get past.
The puppy yawned, half sleeping in her blanket on the front seat. I admired the slick way Terry had hijacked me into delivering her— the Mole was teaching him science, but Michelle had given him art.
Horns blared behind me. I extended my arms in a "what can I do?" gesture and let them blast away.
No cassette player in this heap. I found the all-news station, listened to the body count that passes for electronic journalism in this town. Ninety-one degrees, humidity eighty-eight percent. Some ballplayer was demanding a few more million bucks a year to do whatever he did. Gas prices going up— politicians demand a complete investigation. Body of a baby found in Bowery Bay, just off La Guardia Airport. City-Wide Special Victims Task Force Chief Wolfe says indictments will be sought against those responsible once autopsy is completed.
I lit a smoke, thinking about spirits.
122
Just past eleven. The guy who opened the back door to Mama's nodded at me, ignoring the bundle in my arms. He glanced over my shoulder, pointed at the gypsy cab, said something I couldn't understand, pointed to me. I nodded. He made a "wait here" gesture, came out with a small pot and a brush. Painted some Chinese characters on the trunk of the cab— looked like whitewash, nice calligraphy. He bowed— okay now. You park in Max the Silent's spot and they don't know your car, the neighborhood recycling program goes right into action.
I showed Mama the puppy. She patted its body, clucking at the plumpness. Opened its mouth, raised its tail.
"Good puppy, Burke. Strong."
"Yeah. It's for Luke. A gift."
"Okay. Puppy hungry?"
"Probably. Let's let the kid feed her, okay?"
"In basement. With the woman."
"We'll wait."
123
No lunchtime customers yet— one of Mama's thugs in place at the door, across from the register. Mama was scratching behind the puppy's ears with one hand, the other waving in front of the dog's nose. The pup's eyes were locked on Mama's waving hand.
"Train dog this way," she said. "Rub hand in liver, dog follow everywhere."
Something to that. Something Blossom told me about pheromones, the copper-estrogen smell still sharp in my nostrils whenever I thought of her.
"Hi, Burke!" Luke bounded into the front room, Teresa trailing in his wake.
"Hello, Luke. How's it going?"
But the kid wasn't looking at me anymore, his face rapt with the wonder of the puppy.
"What a puppy! He's yours, Burke?"
"No. The puppy is yours. A gift from your friend Terry. And it's a girl, not a boy."
"Can I…?"
Mama handed him the pup. Luke sat on the floor, cuddling the dog, pushing his face into the animal's snout, giggling when the pup licked his face.
"She likes me. What's her name?"
"She's your pup, kid. So you name her, okay?"
"Okay," the child said, his face all concentration, patting his dog. "Prince," he said. "Prince. Prince the Puppy. My good old puppy."
He was rocking back and forth on the floor, holding the puppy, face wet with tears. "Don't take Prince!" he screamed, rolling over, trying to shield the pup with his body. Teresa started toward him. The front door opened, three men in business suits. Mama barked something at the waiter standing across from the register. He leaped up, his body between the customers and us, chesting them out the door into the street, door closing behind him. Two more of her men ran from the kitchen, the first one pulling an automatic from under his white coat. Teresa had the boy in her arms. The kid was sweat-drenched, mouth open, no sound, veins popping on his neck.
Luke went rigid. Teresa crooned, stroking him li
ke he had the puppy. The boy's eyes closed. A shudder shook him. The puppy stood next to him on its stubby legs, guarding.
Luke's eyes opened. His fine hair was matted to his scalp, blood in one palm from his nails.
"It's okay, Luke," Teresa said to him. "A bad dream, that's all. You're safe. The puppy's safe."
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