Удушье (Choke)

Elephants, the Mommy said, can use their trunks.

Spider monkeys can use their tails.

The little boy just wanted to see something dangerous go wrong.

'Masturbation,' the Mommy said, 'is their only means of escape.'

Until us, the boy thought.

The sad tranced-out animals, the cross-eyed bears and gorillas and otters all hunched over themselves, their glassy little eyes al­most closed, almost not breathing. Their tired little paws were gummy. Their eyes all crusty.

Dolphins and whales will rub themselves against the smooth sides of their tank, the Mommy said.

Deer will rub their antlers in the grass until, she said, they or­gasm.

Right in front of them, a Japanese Sun Bear tossed its little mess onto the rocks. Then the bear sprawled backward with its eyes closed. Its little puddle left to die in the sunlight.

The boy whispered, is it sad?

'Worse,' the Mommy said.

She told about a famous killer whale who was in a movie and then got moved to a fancy new aquarium, but wouldn't stop messing its tank. The keepers were so embarrassed. This went on so much, now they were trying to set the whale free.

'Masturbating your way to freedom,' the Mommy said. 'Michel Foucault would've loved that.'

She said when a boy and a girl dog copulate, the head of the boy's penis swells and the vaginal muscles of the girl constrict. Even after sex, both dogs remain locked together, helpless and miserable for a brief period of time.

The Mommy said this same scenario described most mar­riages.

By then, the last remaining mothers had herded their chil­dren away. When the two of them were all alone, the boy whis­pered, how could they get the keys to set all the animals free?

And the Mommy said, 'Got them right here.'

In front of the monkey cage, the Mommy reached into her purse and took out a handful of pills, little round purple pills. She threw the handful through the bars, and the pills scattered and rolled. Some monkeys crawled down to look.

For one scary moment, not whispering, the boy said, 'Is it poison?'

And the Mommy laughed. 'Now that's an idea,' she said. 'No, honey, we don't want to liberate the little monkeys too much.'

The monkeys were crowding now, eating the pills.

And the Mommy said, 'Relax, kiddo.' She dug into her purse and brought out the white tube, the trichloroethane. 'This?' she said and put one of the purple pills on her tongue. 'This is just plain old garden- variety LSD.'

Then she pushed the tube of trichloroethane up one side of her nose. Or maybe she didn't. Maybe it wasn't this way at all.

Chapter 31

Denny's already sitting ringside

in the dark, sketching on the yellow pad in his lap, three and a half empty beer bottles on the table next to him. He doesn't look up at the dancer, a brunette with straight black hair, on her hands and knees.