Dhalgren

where he stood reached the drain: plonk-plonk, plonk-plonk, plonk-plonk.

Someone around in the stalls coughed.

The labored ablutions had dissolved all verbal thought. But his brain was super-saturated with the stuff of thinking. The cough — repeated, and followed by a clearing throat — set thought forming.

Someone very old and ill?

He used his left pant leg to blot dry groin, belly, and back. He dressed, put the orchid in his belt, and even went outside to walk his feet dry. He put on his sandal, came back in — he had made a mess, he realized — and went around the dividing wall hiding the Johns.

Not old, the guy certainly looked sick.

Cowboy boots, turned in, rested on their sides. One sole, pulled free, showed toes crusty as Kidd's own before washing. Sitting on the toilet ring, head against the empty paper dispenser, face strung with ropey hair, bare ribs and wrinkled belly hung with chain — among them a spherical shield projector. 'You okay?' Kidd asked. 'You look like you're—'

'Unnnn.…' The white scorpion moved his head and, though he sat both feet on the floor, swayed like a drunken cyclist on a high wire. 'Naw. Naw, I'm not sick…' The long nose cut the shaking hair. Beside the nose a rimmed eye blinked its purple lid. 'Who… who you?'

'Who're you?' Kidd countered. 'Pepper. I'm Pepper. I ain't sick.' He put his head back against the dispenser. 'I just don't feel well.'

Kidd felt a small, sharp sadness; as well, an urge to laugh. 'What's the matter?'

Pepper suddenly shook the hair from his eyes and was almost still. 'Who you run with?'

Kidd frowned.

'Ain't you a scorpion?' Pepper gestured with a hand whose nails were graphite spikes. 'Guess you run with Dragon Lady.'

'I don't run,' Kidd said. 'With anybody.'

Pepper squinted. 'I used to be with Nightmare's nest.' The squint became curious. 'You with Dragon Lady now? What did you say your name was?'

On a ludicrous impulse, Kidd stuck his thumb in his pocket, put his weight on one hip. 'Some people been calling me the Kid.'

Pepper's head went back the other way. Then he laughed. 'Hey, I heard of you.' His gums were rimmed with rot and silver. 'Yeah, Nightmare, he said something about the Kid. He was talkin' to Dragon Lady when she was over. I heard 'em talking. Yeah.' His laugh broke; he laid his head back against the wall and moaned. 'I don't feel real well.'

'What'd you hear?' Within surprise, Kid (Kidd decided) reflected on the smallness of the city.

Pepper raised only his eyes; 'Nightmare,' and lowered them. 'He told her you was around, that he thought you was…' He coughed: the sound, weak, still tore things inside. His hands, upturned, shook on his thighs, shook when he coughed: '…till she went away.'

Which made fairly little sense; so he asked: 'You been in here all night?'

Cough. 'Well, I ain't gonna stay out there in the dark!' Pepper's hand gathered enough strength to indicate the doorway.

'You can find yourself a clump of brush, get inside where nobody can see. It's pretty warm out, and it's more comfortable than sleeping on the can. Get yourself a blanket for the night—'

'Man, there're things out there.' At first Pepper's face seemed seized with pain. But he was just squinting. 'That's what you do, huh? Yeah, you must be pretty brave. Like Nightmare told her.'

Which made equally little sense. 'How come you're not with Nightmare? I saw him this morning, with his gang. Dragon Lady wasn't with him.'

'Naw,' Pepper said. 'Naw, she ain't gonna be with him now. They had a fight, see. Oh, Jesus, was that one bloody garden party!' This time Pepper's 'pain' was memory.

'What was it about?' Kid asked.

Pepper's head came forward, hair strings swinging. 'You see those scars on Nightmare's shoulder? You seen them scars?' He tried to nod. 'Oh, I guess it's blown over now, and they almost friendly. But she got her own nest again, somewhere over in Jackson I heard. And they ain't gonna be together too much any more, I don't think.' His head fell back, and he repeated: 'I ain't feeling too well.'

'What's the matter with you?'

'I dunno. Maybe I ate something bad. Or I got a cold maybe.'

'Well, does it hurt in your stomach, or is your head stopped up?'

'I told you, I don't know why.'

'What hurts?'

Pepper shook back hair and sat up again. 'How can I tell you what hurts till I know what's wrong?'

'How can anybody know what's wrong till you say what—'

Pepper lurched upright.

Kid started to catch him.

But Pepper didn't fall. Scrubbing at his face with his fist and snuffling, he said, 'I been staying with Bunny, but I think she threw me out. Maybe we better go back there and find out, huh?' He let go of the side of the stall. 'I think I'm feeling a little better. You know Bunny?'

'I don't think so.'

'She dances over in that freak joint, Teddy's.'

'You mean the little silver-haired guy?'

'She's pretty together. A nut. But together.' Pepper lurched forward. 'I wish I had a God-damn drink of water.'

'Come on around to the sink.'

Pepper passed unsteadily, staggered around the partition.

Kid followed.

Pepper spun one of the taps and jerked his hand back when the pipes began their complaint. '…nothing's coming out,' he ventured.

'Give it a second.'

When the trickle had gone on half a minute, Pepper grimaced. 'Shit, that ain't big enough to drink.' He turned again and staggered for the door. 'God damn I wish I had some water.'

Kid, in amused frustration, turned off the tap and went out. Pepper was wandering up the slope.

Kid watched for a few steps, then turned down toward the commune.

'Hey!'

He looked back. 'What?'

'Ain't you coming with me?'

His amusement diminished to minuscule. 'No.' Minuscule, it still made him wait Pepper's reaction.

'Hey, then.' Pepper returned, his stagger now loosened to a bow-legged jounce. 'Maybe I better come on with you, huh?'

Kid started walking: Not the reaction he'd wanted.

Pepper caught up. 'Look, we go where you going, then we go where I'm going, huh? That's fair.'

'There's a water fountain.'

'Naw, naw, man! You're in a rush. I don't wanna hold you up none.'

Kid sighed, came to a decision, and bellowed, 'GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!'

Pepper stopped, blinking.

Kid took a breath and walked on, shaking his head. I don't like to yell at people, he thought. And then, smiling: That isn't true — I just don't get much chance.

He came to the trees at the edge of the clearing.

The cinderblocks on the near side of the fireplace had been pushed over. Smoke dribbled into the air. Ashes greyed the grass.

There were no people.

Ten feet from the picnic table lay the torn sleeping bag that nobody used because somebody had been sick in it one night and fouled it with puke and diarrhea.