win-the blacks, the Aboriginals, the Muslims-because they’ve been down so long they don’t see no downside to fighting to the death and lopping heads off. That’s why we’re commandeering the Jeeps and the snowmobiles. Ten years from now, hundreds of members of this family from all across the continent will be hid out in the north-small communes, self-sustaining. Rest of the planet, K-OS reigns. North is going to be the best place to be, because blacks and Muslims obviously don’t care for cold and the rest of the planet’s gonna burn.”
“Is Papa from up north?” Nikki said. “Is that why he’s so crazy about it?”
“He was raised somewheres up north,” Jack said, “but that is not what this is about. Haven’t you heard about global warming? North’s gonna be the only place habitable.”
“That’s right,” Lemur said. “That’s how Papa sees it.”
“How Papa sees things got nothing to do with it. It’s the way things are.”
“Well, however it goes, I’m with this family to the end,” Lemur said. “But right now that’s not what I’m seeing in those flames. Well, maybe a little bit.” He pointed to part of an ashy log that had fallen away from the flames. “See, there’s my igloo right there.”
“Kinda hot for an igloo,” Nikki said.
“But all that heat in there? All that beauty? That’s coming from the loving home I’m going to put together with my wife.”
“Oh, sure,” Jack said. “That’s crystal clear.”
“I’m telling you, I can see her. She’s got long brown hair. Down to her shoulders. A little bit of curl to it. And when she smiles, she’s got those little curvy things either side of her mouth.”
“Dimples,” Nikki said.
“Is that what dimples are? Then she’s got dimples. She’s tall-at least as tall as me-and she’s got a nice figure. Not too full. She’s real smart, too. Smarter than me.”
“That is likely true,” Jack said.
“And she wears turtleneck sweaters and corduroy jeans that fit real nice. Because it’s cold up there. And she has a white coat with a fur hood and a sky-blue scarf. I’m telling you, I can see this girl. I can see her so clear. When we meet? I’m going to know who she is right off. And I’m gonna fall in love with her, because I’m already in love with her.”
“Aww,” Jack said. “That is truly beautiful.”
“It is,” Nikki said. “It really is, Lemur.”
Nikki was wishing she’d seen something like that. She’d forgotten about that north business. Papa’s K-OS vision. It made sense to her, from what was on the news and all, but it didn’t stick in her head. Sometimes she thought Papa himself didn’t really believe it, that he believed something else entirely, which he kept to himself.
Lemur looked over at her, the whites of his eyes gleaming. “What do you see for yourself, Nikki?”
Nikki shrugged. “I guess I see music. I know I have a voice like a frog, but I hear songs in my head all the time. So I see, like, a studio of some kind. Do they have those up north where we’re going?”
Lemur sat up. “If they don’t, we’ll build one. We’ll look it up on the Web, get some books on it.”
“It’d be like a combination music studio, like for recording, and a TV studio. So you could make the videos while you record the songs.”
“Oh, sure,” Jack said. “Those Eskimos are some fine singers. Famous for it. Have you ever heard the Eskimo Boys’ Choir?”
“We’ll have all sorts of family up there,” Lemur said. “Some of them’ll be singers for sure. Anyways, chaos is only gonna reign so long. Sooner or later the blacks and the Muslims and all the rest of the, like, downtrodden are gonna come to us to run things. They don’t have the experience with it-not with running a civilization like ours. They’re gonna need help, and they’re gonna come to us that know how it works.”
“Well, aren’t you Papa’s parrot.”
“It makes perfect sense, Jack. If you don’t believe it, why are you part of the family?”
“I just don’t see it word for word, note for note, one-hundred-percent-copycat-perfect in Papa’s exact words, is all. I still have a mind of my own, is what I’m saying.”
Lemur hunched himself up in a corner of the couch, eyes on the flames again. “Well, anyway. There’s no reason why Nikki can’t be producing records or videos ten years from now. Or managing some really cool band. Why not?”
Jack knelt in front of the fire and poked at it, clattering and bonging in the grate as he spoke. Sparks darted and swirled. “Getting back to your own personal vision quest there, Lemur. I’m interested in this girl you describe. This soulmate business. That sounds about as close to perfect as perfect gets.”
Sometimes when Jack spoke, it was as if some malign entity-cold, wet, shapeless-entered the room and sat watching. As if he had custody of some alien creature that fed on anger and tears. Jack’s tone was cheerful, but Nikki sensed that ugly little creature in the room with them. Watching. Drooling.
Lemur didn’t pick up on it. “I never put it into words before. Just sitting here watching the fire, it just seems so…”
“Real,” Jack said. Leather creaked as he got comfortable in his armchair again. “She have a name, this princess?”
“I don’t really care what her name might be. But if I was gonna guess, I’d say she looks like-I don’t know- maybe a Jennifer? Or a Melissa?”
“I’d have said you was far more likely to find yourself cuddling up with a girl named Jason, or Buck. Something like that.”
“Very funny.”
“Listen, Petunia, you ain’t the kind of ace ends up with any Melissa. Reason being, Melissas don’t come supplied with cocks. And you are a natural-born cocksucker if ever I saw one, and that’s the truth.”
“Don’t talk to me like that.” Lemur folded his arms across his chest. His face had gone all tight. “We don’t call each other names in this family.”
“No need to get all hissy about it. Your proclivities is your proclivities. I’m just pointing out what’s obvious to everyone except you-that you are a solid gold, one-hundred-percent certified faggot.”
“It’s Lemur’s future,” Nikki said. “He can imagine it any way he wants.”
“The world’s ugliest whore defends the world’s dumbest fudge packer. Christ, how’d I end up in this freak show? Tell you what, Lemur, I got the perfect line of work for you. We get up north? You learn yourself some carpentry and go straight into cabinet work. Building closets. ‘Cause you are locked up in a closet even Fort Knox got to envy.”
“Just shut your mouth,” Lemur said. “I’m not gay.”
“Is this the kind of family I’m living with?”
None of them had heard Papa come in. He stood looking at them, hands clasped behind his back the way he always stood, measuring them.
“We call each other names? Accuse each other? Tell each other to shut up?”
“Jack was giving Lemur a hard time,” Nikki said. “About being gay.”
“Is that a fact.”
“I was just suggesting he might want to stop lying to himself about it. Be a little more honest with hisself.”
“He was calling me a faggot,” Lemur said.
“And why is that upsetting, if you’re not one?” Papa said. “Or even if you are?”
“He’s punkin’ me. Same as if he spit on me.”
Papa came around the couch and stood with his back to the fire. “Well, people. I have to say, I’m disappointed.”
“Let’s not make a federal case out of it,” Jack said.
“No, not about a little name-calling-childish as that might be. What bothers me more, Jack-and all of you-and to be honest, it’s something that bugs me about myself sometimes-it’s just so conventional. So ordinary. The idea that a person who has sex with someone of their own gender is somehow worthy of ridicule. Are we born-again Christians in this family? Are we Scientologists?
“Being a member of this family is about being free. Free from the labels and conventions our dying society throws around for its convenience. Faggot. Terrorist. Communist. Liberal. Lunatic. It’s the same with all of them. They take the place of real thinking.” Papa tapped a forefinger to his temple. “This family thinks. It does not accept
