Dhalgren

Spider, the youngest, blackest, and tallest scorpion in Kid's nest, leaned against the wall, rubbing the chains on his stomach, echoing Adam.

'…'It is nearly impossible, given our situation in Bellona, to identify any individuals in such an incident. Our reports are all from people behind locked doors and closed shutters'…'

'I can see all them motherfuckers now,' Dollar said, too loud even for this merriment, 'starin' at us out the peepholes. Just a-starin'. God damn!'

'…'Their number has been estimated anywhere from forty to preposterous figures in the high hundreds'…'

'You mean,' Copperhead demanded with lip-thinning satisfaction, 'twenty of us made enough noise so that they thought we was in the high hundreds?' He stood, triumvirate with Spitt and Glass; all three, staunch to dictum, had made no change in dress.

Glass wore his black vinyl vest.

Spitt wore his projector and his scar and his turquoise buckle.

Between Spitt and Copperhead, Kid saw the little girl in the maroon jeans. Her blue blouse was very clean but unironed. She kept raising her hand to flatten the collar, glancing down at herself, and rubbing her collar again. For the first time she seemed pretty. Kid tried to remember what his reaction had been to her before and what had changed it.

'…'in the high hundreds',' Revelation repeated, ' 'which we would like to think'—'

'Maybe they ain't talking about you?' Dragon Lady suggested.

'Sure they're talking about us!' Priest insisted.

'We're the only ones who robbed a bank yesterday, I God-damn guess!'

'—'to think preposterous!' ' which made Revelation laugh so hard he crumpled the paper.

'We gonna go to this fuckin' party tonight?' Cathedral demanded, catching both door jambs and swinging his bulk into the room. He swung back. The optic strand glittered around his brown neck, creased twice with fat. 'What we waiting for?'

Kid grinned, nodded — was astonished at the silence. 'Come on!'

They poured after him, laughing and shouting once more, out the front door and down the steps.

Pepper moved aside quickly.

'Change your mind yet?' Kid asked.

Pepper grinned his ruined grin. 'Naw, I just don't feel like it, you know? I don't go for that stuff.' His eyes flicked from Kid's.

Kid looked too.

From the bottom of the steps, among the milling scorpions, Tarzan watched; with a look of disgust he shook his head, turned away.

'Hey, don't let Tarzan stop you from coming,' Kid said, suddenly angry. 'I'll put the horsemen—' he nodded toward Copperhead and company—'on him so fast he won't be able to remember—' he started to say: His name—'what he thought it was he didn't like about you.'

'Naw,' Pepper said. 'Naw, that ain't it. I'd just be all … Look, I thought I'd get me some wine, see. And maybe go over and say hello to Bunny. I ain't seen Bunny in a God-damn long time. She crazy, you know? She really a nut. But she's a good guy.'

'Okay.' Kid grinned back. 'You do that.'

'Uh…' Pepper said after him, 'you have a nice time at the party…'

'Oh, hey…! Hey…! Come on, hey!' somebody shouted as Kid descended among them.

They started up the alley.

'Which way?' Nightmare called over a cluster of black heads in which, like, respectively, a lemon, a cumquat, and a dandelion among plums, were Tarzan's, and Copperhead's and Revelation's.

'Up this way. We have to pick up somebody.'

Smoke encysted the corner street lamp in a giant pearl.

'God damn!' Somebody coughed. 'How do you guys stand all this!'

(Kid couldn't see her because they had left the doorway's light.)

'You just ain't been here long enough, man! You'll get so you can't breathe without it after a while!'

'Somebody turn on some God-damn lights!' Kid called out, feeling across his chest for his projector. 'Come on, huh?'

Dragon Lady's dragon raised, luminous jade, ahead. The mantis and the griffin flared, swaying, with misty penumbras.

An indigo spider flickered, mandibles higher than Kid's head — flickered out once around Copperhead, then gained full brightness like tardy neon.

Glass disappeared inside his newt.

Spitt's beetle glistened up like bottle glass.

Nightmare turned to Kid and grinned. 'You got it pretty bright tonight, Kid,' and flashed out beneath raised pincers.

The plastic colors opaled in the smoke.

Peacock (that was the Ripper), mantichor, and iguanadon, the spectral menagerie turned up the avenue.

6

'Are you sure this is where Lanya lives?' Kid asked Denny. The others milled about the stoop.

'Yeah,' Denny said. 'Yeah! Sure, ring the bell.'

Kid did. Moments later, after footsteps (and he heard someone say, 'Oh, dear…' behind the peephole), she opened the door and stepped out, all silver, into the smokey light.

'God damn!' Raven said appreciatively behind him.

Lanya shaded her eyes, looked about, said, 'My God!' and burst out laughing.

Madame Brown, in something blue and tailored, stepped out behind her, looking tentative. The diffused light gave back to her heavy face the lines and over-madeup quality Kid had first seen by candle light. Once more her hair was harsh henna. And her neck, bound and bound around again with the optical beads, looked far too heavily decorated — yet it was the same way she wore them with her daytime browns and beiges.

Muriel barked once, leaped forward, and came up on the end of the leash.

'Oh, why don't you leave her home?' Lanya coaxed. 'Look at our escort. We'll be—'

'Kid doesn't mind Muriel coming along; do you Kid? You said Roger had all those grounds. She'll be a perfect dear.'

'Naw,' Kid said, and discovered, saying it, he did. 'Bring her along!'

'She just gets so lonely if I don't take her with me.' Madame Brown surveyed the arrayed scorpions.

Muriel tried to run down the porch steps, couldn't and barked again.

'Hush, now!' Madame Brown said. 'Hush!'

'Here, I'm giving this to you.' Lanya handed Denny the piece of equipment Tak had taken from the warehouse with the cloth. 'Put it in your shirt pocket for me?'

The silver fringe on Denny's sleeve shook in curtains of light as he put the control box away.

Lanya took Kid's hand. Her dress was sleeveless, scoop-necked, and reached the ground. She leaned to whisper: 'I've got something for you too,' and handed him her harmonica. 'Put this in your pants pocket for me?'

'Sure.'

Feeling the metal on his thigh through the dime-sized tear, Kid stepped down among the others. Lanya, Muriel, and Madame Brown came behind.

As they started, he heard Madame Brown: 'Your arm looks a lot better. It hasn't been giving you any trouble?'

'No ma'am,' Siam answered. 'Not much. Any more. But I thought I was gonna die when you just poured all