Dhalgren

'Hi, Bunny.' Lanya leaned over the edge. So did Denny.

'Ah-ah-ah!' Bunny shook a finger at her. 'You know what they say, dear; one at a time, and slowly. Hello.' That was to Denny, who was grinning. 'What a charming overbite you have,' and looked back at Kid: 'I approve. You all can't be about to do what I thought you were. Can I come up and sit a spell?'

'We probably were,' Lanya said. 'But come on.'

Bunny raised a platinum brow, forehead wrinkling — or crumpling. 'I don't understand these modern relationships. Beneath my glittering exterior, I'm just a sweet, old-fashioned girl. No offense, dear,' and nodded at Lanya. 'Now — How am I supposed to negotiate this?' Bunny grasped the supporting beam, 'Oh, it isn't that hard.' Head and scrawny throat (in a black jersey turtleneck gone limp), cleared the mattress. 'Now how do I get the rest of the way?'

'Here.' Denny kneeled up and grabbed Bunny's shoulders.

'Oh, watch it, oh watch it, watch it now, I… Oh!' Bunny settled on the loft edge, black jeans bunched a little at the waist. '…Thank you! Well, I must say this is rather cozy. You said Pepper was around? I can't tell you what a load that lifts from my frazzled and distorted little brain. You know, he was staying at my place; a few days ago he disappeared. Again. Well, you know I worried. He's managed to take care of himself one way or the other these past twenty-nine years without spending too much of that time in jail — did you know he told me he was once arrested for displaying himself in public? Isn't that too quaint? But I heard you were running a nest and so I thought I'd take a look-see before I made up my mind whether or not to go frantic with grief.'

'He's around,' Kid said. 'But I don't know if he's here just now. You want to take him back with you? That's fine with me.'

Bunny's pupils rolled up. 'Oh, I'd give my eye teeth to have him back.' Bunny's nails, their pearl polish chipped, strayed on the bright beads that circled the small, dark shoulders. 'But then, I'm not going to try and make the poor baby do anything he' doesn't want. It isn't good for him. He's got to learn to do what he thinks best. If I go directing his whole life — and you wouldn't believe how much he wants me to; he practically demands I make everything resembling a decision for him — he'll never grow up. One has to be responsible to the people one loves, whichever way they let one.' Bunny, hands folded, pale and knobbly, frowned from one to the other. 'Three of you? Darlings, that's going to be so much work! Well, you'll have each other to lean on in times of crisis.' The frown changed; the hands broke. 'You say I can take him away? He hasn't gotten into any trouble around here, has he?'

'Naw,' Kid said. 'But I had to make loud noises at someone trying to give him a rough time.'

'You did?' Bunny pulled back. 'Not only do you write beautiful poems, you have a poetic soul! I knew it, I knew it when Pepper first introduced us. That's why I came; because you had a poetic soul.' Bunny pulled back further. 'Tell me. In that fifth poem. On page seventeen. Mab; now I don't understand the title, and I don't know if I want to, but did I detect a fleeting reference to… me by any chance?'

'Yeah.' Kid said. 'Probably. I was sitting in the john at Teddy's when I wrote it. You were outside dancing.'

'Ahhhh!' Bunny exclaimed with clasped hands and lowered eyes. 'That's just the most exciting… Oh!' Suddenly Bunny's hand swirled up and overhead. 'Of course, that's nothing to you, dear!' It landed on Lanya's knee. 'I mean you're practically the Dark Lady of the Sonnets.' Now Bunny leaned forward: 'Darling, don't make him miserable.' Bunny's hand moved on to brush Denny's shoulder. Denny frowned at it. 'You too. Be kind to him.' Bunny turned once more to Kid. 'You're doomed to tragedy, you know. The ones of us, like you and I, with the Ipana smile, we always are. I mean who could possibly love us? And just because our half of the class brushed with Crest; tragedy begins from such tiny things. But that's why all of us with the ultra-bright grimaces have to be content to end up in Hollywood, as movie stars, hideously famous, fabulously rich, trailing behind us all the heartaches, the broken romances, divorce after divorce- Look at you! Fame and fortune are already glittering up there on South Brisbain. You see? It's begun, already, you poor thing!'

'Far,' Denny said with gravity, 'fucking out.'

Lanya said: 'If Bunny's in your book, you should invite him to the party.'

'Yeah,' Kid said. 'You want to come? Most of the guys in the nest are going up. So Pepper'll probably be along.'

'Oh, I couldn't!' Bunny's head dropped, with a small shake. 'I couldn't possibly,' then looked up. 'I'd just love to, I really would. But I can't.'

'Why not?'

'Principles.'

'How do you mean?'

'Well.' The space between Bunny's nose and upper lip got longer. 'That astronaut person, Captain Kamp, is going to be there, isn't he?'

'He's Calkins' guest. I guess he will.'

'That's why.'

Denny said, 'Is that the guy you met who's been on the moon?'

'Um-hm.' Kid nodded.

Lanya said: 'I don't understand, Bunny.'

'Were you there the night the Captain came to the bar?'

'I was,' Kid said.

'Then you know what happened. To me and George.'

'No,' Kid said, 'I don't.'

Bunny took a preparatory breath. 'As soon as Teddy realized who that glorified fish-bait was — and don't you know, someone had to tell her? — she came over to me and suggested that, considering the clientele that evening, it might be better if I didn't dance!'

'No,' Lanya said. 'You're not serious, are you? Why?'

'He didn't want to offend the tender sensibilities of our scotch-and-water-sipping national hero. They do not, presumably, have go-go boys on the moon. Teddy figured the shock might be too much.'

'When I came in,' Kid said, 'everybody was sitting around having a chamber of commerce meeting.'

'That,' Bunny said, 'had not begun when Teddy made his pronouncement to me. And when it did, George happened to be there. They were all sitting around asking questions, and George was very interested. So George asked some. One of them — I was watching from my cage — was whether or not Captain Kamp had ever been to George's moon. Some people snickered. But George was serious. And I'll say this for the Captain, he answered it perfectly seriously. I mean, considering the afternoon, it was pretty presumptuous to think any question was that silly. But after a couple more from George, Teddy went over and said something to him. A minute later, George shoved back his chair and walked out.'

'What did he say?' Denny asked.

'I couldn't hear,' Bunny said. 'But I certainly could see the effect. And I know what he said to me.'

'George had just left when I came in,' Kid said. 'Tak told me.'

'That sounds so silly,' Lanya exclaimed. 'Teddy was always a little… formal, but you make him sound like a member of the Rotary Club.'

'Daughter of the American Revolution! That naugahide rimmer of rusty Chevrolet nineteen-fifty-two exhaust pipes! I hope the next time she sucks off a number she rips his foreskin in her bridgework!' — which collapsed Denny on his back with hysterics. 'There are two reasons — beside the free hooch — that anyone comes into that roach-infested, crab-breeding collapsed douche bag. One is George. The other is me… Oh, yes! A few have wandered by, hoping they might be lucky enough to get a look at the Kid. But don't worry, just give that neo-Nazi time and he'll start asking you to wear a tie next time you come. Mark mother's wise, wise words.'

'That's too silly,' Lanya said and made an ugly face.

'If I saw George,' Kid said, 'I was going to invite him. I guess he won't want to go now either?'