The Soft Machine

The boy turned from the washbasin 'You don't remember me?—Well we met in a way that is'—

The toothbrush in his hand was streaked with blood.

Jimmy sat down on the bed his rectum tingling—The other picked up his scarf from a chair and ran it through his fingers looking at Jimmy with a cruel idiot smile— His hands closed on Jimmy's elbows twisting him over on his stomach down on the bed—The boy found a pajama cord and tied Jimmy's hands behind his back— Jimmy lay there gasping and sucked the key, tasting metal in his mouth—The other saddled Jimmy's Body—

He spit on his hands and rubbed the spit on his cock— He placed his hands on Jimmy's ass cheeks and shoved them apart and dropped a gob of spit on the rectum— He slid the scarf under Jimmy's hips and pulled his body up onto his cock—Jimmy gasped and moved with it—The boy slid the scarf up along Jimmy's body to the neck—

He must have blacked out though he hadn't had much to drink at the pub—two so-called double brandies and two Barley wines—He was lying on a lumpy studio bed in a strange room—familiar too—in shoes and overcoat— someone else's overcoat—such a coat he would never have owned himself—a tweedy loose-fitting powder-blue coat—K9 ran to tight-fitting black Chesterfields which he usually bought secondhand in hock shops—He had very little money for clothes though he liked to dress in 'banker drag' he called it—black suits—expensive ties and linen shirts— Here he was in such a coat as he would never voluntarily have owned or worn—someone else's room—

bed sitter—cheap furniture suitcases open—K9 found two keys covered with dust on the mantel—

Sat down convenient and sorted out his name—

'You never learned to use your Jimmy—slow with the right—there will be others behind him with the scarf— We met you know in a way that is in the smell of wine— You don't remember me?'

Taste of blood in his throat familiar too—and overcoat—someone else's—streaked with coal dust—

The bed sitter boy as it always does folded his clothes—Lay there gasping fresh in today—

'Went into what might be called the comfortable and got myself a flat jewelry lying about wholesale side— Learned how to value them marketable commodities come level on average—well groceries—She started screaming for a respectable price—I was on the roof so I had to belt her—

Find a time buyer before doing sessions—There's no choice if they start job for instance —Have to let it go cheap and start further scream along the line—one or two reliable thieves—Work was steady at the gate to meet me—early answer to use on anyone considering to interfere—Once in a while I had to put it about but usually what you might call a journeyman thief—It was done so modern and convenient—Sorted out punishment and reward lark—On, off? the bed down on his stomach is he? Ah there you are behind him with the scarf—Hands from 1910— There's no choice if took off his clothes—Have to let it go cheap and start naked.'

Twisted the scarf tighter and tighter around Jimmy's neck—Jimmy gasped coughing and spitting, face swollen with blood—His spine tingled—Coarse black hair suddenly sprouted all over him.

Canines tore through his gum with exquisite toothache pain—He kicked in bone wrenching spasms.

Silver light popped in his eyes.

He decided to take the coat with him—Might pass someone on the stairs ^nd they would think he was the tenant since the boy resembled him in build and features being younger of course but then people are not observant come level on average—Careful—

'Careful—Watch the exits—wait a bit—no good at this rate—Watch the waves and long counts—

no use moving out—try one if you want to—all dies in convulsions screaming without a body—

Know the answer? —arsenic two years: operation completed—We are arsenic and bleeding gums—

Who? Quien es?—World's End loud and clear—so conjured up wide shoulders and black eyes glinting—shadow cars through the dingy room—My page deals the bedroom sitter out of suitcase here on the bed where you know me with cruel idiot smile as Jimmy's eyes pop out—Silk scarf moved up rubbing—Pubic hair sprouted all over him tearing the flesh like wire—Eyes squinted from a smell I always feel—Hot spit burned his rectum open—The warm muscle contracts—

Kicked breathless coughing and spitting adolescent image blurred in film smoke— through the gums the fist in his face—taste of blood— His broken body spurted life in other flesh—identical erections kerosene lamp—electric hair sprouted in ass and genitals—taste of blood in the throat—

Hot semen spurted idiot mambo—one boy naked in Panama —Who?— Quien es?— Compost heap stench where you know me from—a smell I always feel when his eyes pop out—'

'Know the answer? arsenic two years: goof ball bum in 1910 Panama. They'll do it every time—

Vampires is no good all possessed by overwhelming Minraud girl—'

'Are you sure they are not for protection?'

'Quite sure—nothing here but to borrow your body for a special purpose: ('Excellent—Proceed to the ice.') —in the blood arsenic and bleeding gums—They were addicted to this round of whatever visits of a special kind—An errand boy of such a taste took off his clothes —Indications enough naked now his cock healed scar tissue—Flesh juice vampires is no good—all sewage— sweet rotten smell of ice—no use of them better than they are—The whole thing tell you no good no bueno outright or partially.'

'Reasons for the change of food not wholly disinterested—The square fact is that judges like a chair

—For many years he used Parker—Fed up with present food in the Homicide Act and others got the job—So think before time that abolition is coming anyway after that, all the Top Jobbies would like to strike a bargain in return for accepting the end of hanging—Generous? Nothing—I wasn't all that far from ebbing in position—'

'Have to move fast—Nail that Broker before they get to him—Doing him a favor any case—'

He found the Broker in a cafe off the Socco—heavy with massive muscled flesh and cropped grey hair—K9 stood in the shadow and tugged his mind screen—The Broker stood up and walked down an alley—K9 stepped out of the shadows in his new overcoat—

'Oh it's you—Everything all right?—'