Ten or fifteen fidget in the
cafeteria. Folding chairs and tables pushed aside to make a floor.
Elephant Gerald plays the handyman washing a mop under the outdoor spigot.
Unseen shattering and someone cheers. Ariel shakes her head forlornly,
chin like gelatin, hissing into hands. Ada hugs her little sister and
sings Toot Toot Tootsie Don't Cry. Everything's all right. Nothing hurts
(until Oreste hollers). He bursts through the door, dancing like a cat
with Scotch-taped paws. Before the guests can exhale their gasps they have
to gasp
again. Godfrey's voice tears through the public address system like a
tornado ripping up Missouri. Booms to the roomful of ruined
minds.So who's on duty, Flub-a-dub or what? Holy shit, O'Gatty
groans. Naughty, naughty, Security clucks. Excuse my French. But there's
no one on the other end of the line.The doorknob turns and Socco
slouches through the door, bare feet cut and bleeding from the welcome
mat. He sinks to his knees and does a most uncharacteristic thing--he
reaches up for Dudley's
hands. A melon on a vine--thick neck. Pretty Mary's gone. She climbed over
the fence and ran away. Socco can't go on and doesn't need to: he's fallen
asleep on the couch. The clicking of clocks made Godfrey jittery. The
smell of their playhouse marriage overwhelmed him. It was brutally quick.
As the rapist closed the door, Socco's cuckoo came out and the violence
returned. Chester kicked Socco to the end of time, and that's when Pretty
Mary began to run. He crushes out a cigarette on the Goddess of Love.
Baseball cap at a cocky angle. Dwindling bicep flexes before the screen
cast muscle shadows on the wall.