Dhalgren

Mrs Richards, standing in the middle of the hall, began to shake her head and cry again.

He scowled and pulled his pants up. He'd been heading for the bathroom but, exposed to her astonished grief, he was thrown back to the moment of sexual response at the shaft bottom. Shit, he thought: 'Ma'am, why don't you go upstairs. There's nothing you can do. Being here won't make you feel… any better. June …?'

June half hid behind her mother.

'…why don't you take her upstairs.' Suddenly he didn't want to be there at all. 'Look, I've got to go get some — something.' Holding his pants closed, he went past them into the living room, picked up his notebook and, holding it in front of his lap, stalked out the door.

Thirteen said, 'I guess she's taking it pretty rough,' and stepped back to let him in.

'Shit.' Dragon Lady glanced at the ceiling.

The sound of crying, high and stifled, dripped into the room like something molten.

'Why don't she shut up!' Dragon Lady said.

'Look, man—' Thirteen started.

'I know, I know. Somebody just asked me if I wanted a glass of wine. Well I sure as shit do. Baby? Adam? You bringing that damn wine?'

'You said,' Kidd began, 'you had some clothes?'

'Oh yeah. Sure. Come on in.'

Denny, who was resting a glass jug on the crook of his arm, said, 'I think he wants to use the bathroom.'

'Yeah, you want to wash up. Tub's a mess, but you can use it if you want. What's the matter?'

'Nothing.' But Denny's last sentence had caused gooseflesh more unpleasant than either grief or terror. 'Yeah, I better wash up.'

'Down the hall. It don't have no fuckin' windows. I'll get a lantern.' Thirteen lifted one from a nail in the wall.

Kidd followed him into the john.

In the swaying lantern light, he saw a line of rust along the middle of the tub to the drain. The enamel had flaked here and there from black patches. 'We had to put a fucked-up scorpion in here a couple of nights back — name was Pepper — and he'd put something in his arm he shouldn't have. Put him in the bathtub with his spurs on, and he tried to kick holes in it.' Lantern high in one hand, Thirteen bent and picked up a screw from the tub bottom, looked at it, shrugged. 'Use any of those towels you want. We don't got no washcloths.' He put the lantern down on the back of the toilet.

Kidd put the notebook on the seat-top, turned on the water and picked up the soap: Flakes of rust had dried into it.

With a grey towel (torn) he swabbed the bottom of the tub. There was no stopper, so he rolled it up and plugged the drain, then got in before the water had covered the bottom.

'Do you want something to drink?' a girl called through the door.

'Yeah.'

While he sat, scrubbing at his face, he could hear the crying upstairs. He wondered if she were moving from room to room.

The girl came into the bathroom with a white cup in her hands. She wore jeans, was heavy, and had a cheerful face that was trying to look very serious. 'Here you are. That poor boy.' She bent down, spilling curly hair from her shoulder and put the cup on the tub edge. She had loose, heavy breasts under a blue sweatshirt. 'That must have been awful!'

Her voice was breathy, and he thought she probably giggled a lot. The thought of her giggling made him smile. 'It wasn't nice.'

'You live upstairs?' she asked.

Perhaps she was seventeen. 'I just work there. You know if you keep on staring at me like that, I'm gonna get all excited.'

She giggled.

He leaned back in the tub. 'See, I told you.'

'Oh…' She gestured mock frustration, left — she had to push past Denny who stood in the door now. He gave a sharp, short laugh. 'You really got yourself messed up, huh, kid?'

'Yeah, well. I guess we couldn't leave him down there.'

'I guess not.' Denny came in and sat on the toilet cover, picked up the notebook. 'Hey, kid? This yours?'

He nodded, only realizing now that Denny's 'kid' had neither capital K or extra d. Kidd grinned and picked up the mug. (Around him the water ran brown. The match book from his foot floated under the spigot.) When he sipped, his mouth burned. 'Shit, what is this?'

'Whisky,' Denny said, looking up. 'You want wine, we got wine. But I thought maybe you'd want something good and strong, I mean after…' His hair swung in pale blades.

'That's fine.'

'You write all this?'

'Yeah. Leave it alone.'

'Oh.' Quickly Denny put it on the floor between his boots. He rubbed two fingers on his naked chest a while. Then he glanced up and said, 'She's really going on, huh? I guess that's cause she's his momma?'

Kidd nodded and ground his knuckles in the soap. 'I got all that junk off my face?'

'Nope. On the side, under your chin.'

He lathered there. The lantern showed the suds gone tan.

Denny gestured. 'What you got a hard-on for?'

'Your scrawny ass hanging over the back of your pants.'

'Yeah?' Denny grinned. 'Be the best piece you ever had.'

But when Kidd sloshed the lather off his face, Denny was still looking at it. 'How'd your run go?' Kidd asked.

'With Nightmare?'

'Yeah.'

'It was a fuck-up.' Denny shrugged. 'We didn't get nothing. Time before was really good. Next time be good too.'

'What you guys run after?' Kidd drank some more, and rubbed the rusty soap on his stomach.

'You all that interested in scorpion shit?'

Kidd shrugged. The soap bobbed away.

Denny nodded. 'You interested, you ask Dragon Lady.'

'Not that interested.' He retrieved it, pushed it between his toes.

'You ask her, she'll tell you if she thinks you wanna know. Dragon Lady, she likes you.' Suddenly Denny stood. 'So does Nightmare. I'll be back in a second.'

Kidd took another drink, and fell to scrubbing again. His nails were lined — ruined rim and bitten cuticle — with brown. He dunked his head, rubbed it, lifted it; dark streaks wormed from the drippings.

'Here you go, kid.' Denny came back in with an armful of clothing and sat down again on the toilet. 'Now we got this pair of pants; and this pair — naw, that's pretty raunchy. I guess these'll fit you. Nice belt, too. I dunno who left all this shit. You think there'd be a shirt in here, you know.'

'I thought scorpions didn't wear shirts.' Kidd stood up in the loud water to soap his groin.

Denny glanced at him once more. 'Shit, I better keep my ass out of your way. You want a black leather vest? That'd look good on you, kid, you know? Scorpions just wear vests, usually. You seen the one I got?'

'How old are you?'

'Eh… sixteen,' followed with a questioning glance.

Fifteen, Kidd decided. 'I'm practically a dozen years older than you. Stop calling me kid.'

'Huh? You are?'

'Yeah. Now throw me that other towel.' As he caught it, the door crashed back. Dragon Lady lurched in, dark face twisted, stained teeth bared, shaking a fist with one finger up. 'Look, when you go back upstairs, you tell that bitch to cut it out, you hear? It's driving me up the fuckin' wall! God damn, I know it's her kid, but — well, Jesus