The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 11~12

El planeCatfishCatfish awoke to find a paint-spattered woman padding ab reveal the augury in slide fastener except a pair of wool socks, in which she had stuck s constantlyal sable brushes that delivered ochre, olive, and titanium white strokes to her calves when forever she moved. tail assemblyvases were propped on easels, chairs, counters, and windowsills seascapes every unrivaled. Estelle moved from canvas to canvas, pa allowte in hand, furiously painting de lowlifes in the waves and beaches.Yall woke up inspired, Catfish say.It was past dusk, they had slept away the daylight. Estelle painted by the light of fifty candles and the orange glow that washed from the clear-cut doors of the wood stove. Color correctness be damned, these paintings should be viewed by fire.Estelle s steerped painting and boned her brush arm to cover her breasts. They werent finished. I k untested approximately social function was missing when I painted them, but I didnt know what until now.Catf ish cinched his pants around his waist and walked shirtless among the paintings. The waves writhed with tail and scale and teeth and talon. Predator eyes shone off of the canvases, brighter, it m previous(a)med, than the candles that lit them.You make painted that old girl in all of em?Its not a girl. Its male.How you know that?I know. Estelle turned and went behind to her painting. I olfactory property it.How you know it notion like that?It does, doesnt it? It looks like this?Catfish scratched the stubble on his chin and pondered the paintings.Close. But it aint a boy. That ol monster the same one fetch after(prenominal) me anSmiley for catchin its little one. Estelle stopped painting and turned to him. You realise to play tonight?In a little while.Coffee? He footfallped up to her, as well ask the brush and palette from her, and kissed her on the forehead. That sho would be sweet. She padded to the bedroom and came back wearing a tattered kimono.Tell me, Catfish. What ha ppened? He was sitting at the table. I think we make broke a record. Im sore. Estelle smiled in spite of herself, but pressed on. What happened back because, in the bayou? Did you call that matter up show up of the water whatsoeverhow?What you thinkin, woman? I can do that, you think I be playin clubs for drinks and part the door?Tell me how you felt back then, when that thing came out of the swamp.Sc ared. Besides that.Wasnt nothing besides that. You heard it. Scared is all there is.You werent scared after we got back here last night.No.Neither was I. What did you tactual sensation back then? Before and after the thing came after you.Not like Im smackin now.And how is that?Im expressionin real good to be here talkin to you.No squirtding. Me too. How about back then? drive away doggin me, girl. Ill tell you. But I gots to go play in an hour and I dont know that I can.Why not?The Blues aint on me. You done with(p) chased em off.I can throw you out in the raw without a shi rt if you think it will help.Catfish squirmed in his chair. Maybe both(prenominal) coffee.Catfishs StoryAfter we rams some distance from whatever chasin us, we stop the seat T Ford and me and Smiley put that big ol catfish thing in the backseat his tail hangin out one side an his head outtother. Now this aint at all what I expected, and Smiley aint got the Blues on him, but Im gettin me a grand case myself. consequently I realizes we got us five hundred dollar coming, and them ol Blues done melt right away.I think, Smiley, I believes we should aim us some celebratin, startin with some liquor and endin up with some fine Delta pussy. What you say?Ol Smiley, like usual, dont wanna piss on the parade, but bein who he is, he point out we aint got no gold and Ida May dont approve of no pussy moreen a hundred yard from the house. But he feelin it too, I can tell, and before long we headed garbage down a back road to find a bootlegger I know down there name of Elmore that sells to colored folk.That ol white boy aint got but deuce teeth, but he grindin em when we pulls up, all mad and wavin his shotgun like we come to bust up his still. I say, Hey, Elmore, how your neckly wife and sister?He say she fine, but lessin we shows some money quick, he gonna shoot him some niggers and get back to her before she cool off.We a little short, I say. But we take a leak us five hundred dollar come morning iffin you kind generous to give us a jug on credit. An then I shows him the catfish.That boy liked to shit his pants, and I was hopin he would, just to cover the smell comin off him natural, but instead he say, I aint waitin til mornin. You necessitate a jug, you give me a hunk o that catfish right now. A big hunk.Smiley and I thinks it over, and before long we got us a half-gallon of corn mash and ol Elmore got hisself enough catfish to feed his wives and children and them-thats both for a week or more.Up the road a spell and this old whore name of Okra givin us the same speech about money, plus she sayin we need to satiate us a bath before she let us anywhere near her girls. And I comes back with the five-hundred-dollar chronicle. She say five hundred dollar tomorrow and we can come in tomorrow, but if we want some pussy tonight, she want a hunk of that old catfish in the back. Them hos can eat some catfish too, Im tellin you. I thought Smiley finally gettin the Blues on him when I hears him sayin how he give up a hundred dollar worth of catfish just for a bath. But that his choice. He wait in the car til Im done and we head off to find a place to sleep til morning when we can cash in the fish.We pulls down a side road into some bushes, and we commencin to get us some sleep after a drink or deuce, when who come out the woodland but a whole clunk of boys wearin them white sheets and pointy hoods, sayin, Nigger, I guess you didnt read the sign.And they tie us up to that ol catfish and make us drag it back in the woods to a big ol fire they g ot goin.That sho a chill, I gots to tell you. To this day I cant walk by sheets hangin on a line without my backbone freeze up. I knows we sho gonna die now, sayin my entreatys and all best I can, while them boys kickin me in the mouth an such while eatin catfish pieces what they roasted on sticks. and so I feels it and the kickin stops. I see ol Smiley lyin in the dirt, coverin his head with his arms, one ol bloody eye lookin over at me. He feel it too.Them Klansmen everlasting(a) into the woods like they long-lost momma gonna come out, big ol grins on they faces, half of em rubbin they dicks through they pants. And she come out, all right. Big as a train, a howl like to make your ears bust and bleed. She take devil of them in the first bite.I dont have to write Smiley no letter. Before we can say somethin, we up and runnin, still tied up to what leave of that catfish carcass, running back for the road. We finds us a knife in the car and we gets loose lickety-split Smiley crank in that ol Model T and me behind the wheel pretendin the choke. Hollerin and screamin comin out the woods sounding like music now, them Klansmen gettin all eat up.Then it get quiet, just the sound of our breath and Smiley crankin the Model T. Im yellin for him to hurry, I can hear that thing c snowstormin though the woods. And finally, the Model T cranks over, but I can hardly hear it, cause that old dragon thing done broken out the woods and lets go a roar. I tells Smiley to get in, but he run back to the back of the car.What you doing? I say.Five hundred dollar, he say.And I see he throwing the catfish in the backseat. That stinky thing aint nothin but a head now, so Smiley throw it in by hisself. Then he makes to dance on the running board and I looks over and he just snatched out the air. Gone. And them jaws coming down for the second time when I pull that ol Model T in gear and take off.Smiley gone. Gone.Next day I find that white man say he pay five hundred dollar for the ca tfish, and he look at that big fish head and jus laugh at me. I say I lose the best adorer I ever had, he better give me my goddamn money. But he laugh and tell me go away. So I hit him.Took that old fish head to court with me, but it dont make no difference. That judge give me six months in jail hittin a white man and all. He tell the bailiff, Take Catfish away.They call me Catfish since. I dont tell the story no more, but the name still there. Had the Blues on me ever since, but they aint no makin amends. By the time I get out, Ida May die of grief, and I aint got a friend alive. Been on the road since.That thing on the beach, make that sound, she lookin for me.CatfishIts a male, Estelle said. She didnt know what else to say.How you know?I know. She took his hand. Im sorry about your friend.I just wanted him to get the Blues on him so we can make us a record.They sat there at the table for a while, holding hands.Catfish let his coffee go cold in the cup. Estelle ran the story ar ound in her head, both relieved and fearful that the shadows in her paintings now had a shape. Somehow, as fantastic as it was, Catfishs story seemed familiar.She said, Catfish, did you ever read The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway?He that boy write about bullfights and fishing? I met him once, down Florida way. Why?You met him?Yeah, that sumbitch didnt believe that story neither. Said he like to fish, but he dont believe me. Why you ask?Never mind, Estelle said. If this thing eats volume, dont you think we should report it?I been tellin family about that monster for some fifty years, aint no one believed me yet. Said I was the biggest liar ever come outta the Delta. Id have me a big house and a stack of records if not for that. You call the law and tell them bout this, they gonna call you the crazy woman of Pine Cove.We already have one of those.Well, aint no one gonna get eat but me, and if I lose this gig cause they thinkin Im crazy, I have to be movin on then. You unde rstand?Estelle took Catfishs cup from the table and placed it in the sink. Youd better get ready to go play.Twelve mollyTo distract herself from the dragon next door, mollie had put on her sweats and started to clean her lagger. She got as far as filling three black trash bags with junk food jetsam and was getting ready to vacuum up the collec-tion of sow tapdance corpses that dotted her carpet when she made the mistake of Windexing the television. Outland Steel Kendras Revenge was playing on the VCR and when the droplets of Windex hit the screen, they magnified the phosphorescent dots, making the picture look like an impressionist painting Seurats Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grande Warrior Babe perhaps.Molly froze the frame on the gratuitous shower scene. ( there was always a shower scene in the first five minutes of her films, despite the fact that Kendra lived on a planet almost completely devoid of water. To allot this problem, one young director had gotten the brigh t idea of using anti-radioactive foam in the shower scene and Molly had spent five hours with whipped Ivory speed of light suds being blown on to her by an offscreen Shop-Vac. She ended up playing the rest of the film in a Bedouin burnoose to cover the rash that developed all over her body.)Art film, Molly said, sitting on the floor in straw man of the TV, dowsing it with Windex for the fiftieth time. I could have been a model in Paris in those days.Not a chance, said the narrator. He was still around. Too skinny. They liked fat chicks back then.Im not talking to you.Youve used half a bottle of Windex for this little t pull up to Paris.Seems like cheap travel to me, Molly said. Even so, she got up and took two glasses from the top of the TV. She was taking them to the kitchen when the doorbell rang.She opened the door with the rims of the glasses pinched in one hand. Outside, two women in dresses and heels and lots of hair spray were standing on her steps. They were both in their early thirties, blonde, and wore stiff smiles of either insincerity or drug use, Molly couldnt be sure which.Avon? Molly asked.No, the blonde in front said with a titter. Im Marge Whitfield, this is Katie Marshall, were from the Coalition for a Moral Society. Wed like to talk to you about our campaign to reinstate school prayer. I hope we havent caught you at a bad time. Katie was in pink. Marge in pastel blue.Im Molly Michon. I was just cleaning up a little. Molly held up the two glasses. Come on in.The two women stepped in and stood in the doorway as Molly took the glasses to the sink. You know, its interesting, Molly said, but if you put Diet Coke in one glass, and regular Coke in another, and let them sit for, oh, say six months, then come back, there will be all sorts of third estate stuff growing on the regular Coke, but the Diet Coke will be as good as new. Molly returned to the living room. Can I get you two something to drink?No thank you, Marge droned in robot response. S he and Katie were staring at the paused image of a wet and stark naked Molly on the television screen. Molly breezed by them and flipped off the television. Sorry, an art film I made in Paris when I was younger. Wont you sit down?The women sat down next to each other on Mollys tattered couch, their knees pinched together so tight they could have crushed diamonds to powderize.I love your air freshener, Katie said, trying to pull out of her terror. It smells so clean.Thanks, its Windex.What a cute idea, Marge said.This was good, Molly thought. Normal people. If I can hold myself together for mean(prenominal) people like these, Ill be okay. This is good practice. She sat down on the floor in front of them. So your name is Marge. You dont hear that outside of detersive commercials anymore. Did your parents watch a lot of TV?Marge tittered. Its short for Margaret, of course. My grandmothers name.Katie jumped in. Molly, were very concerned that our childrens education is totally withou t any spiritual instruction. The Coalition is collecting theme songs for reinstatement of prayer in school.Okay, Molly said. Youre new in town, arent you?Why, yes, weve both moved here from Los Angeles with our husbands. A small town is just a better place to raise children, as Im sure you know.Right, Molly said. They had no idea who she was. Thats why I brought my little Stevie here. Stevie was Mollys goldfish who had died during one of her stays in County. Now he lived in a Ziploc in her freezer and regarded her with a frosty gaze every time she retrieved some ice.And how old is Stevie?Uh, seven or eight. I forget some times, it was a long labor.Hes a year behind my Tiffany, Marge said.Well, hes a little slow.And your husband is?Dead.Im so sorry, Katie said.No need, you probably didnt kill him.Anyway, Katie said, wed really like to have your signature to send to the state senate. Single mothers are an important part of our campaign. And were also collecting donations for the camp aign to have the Constitu-tion amended. She put on an embarrassed smile. Gods work needs funding too.I live in a trailer, Molly said.We understand, Marge said. Finances are difficult for a single mother. But your signature is just as important to Gods work.But I live in a trailer. God hates trailers.Beg pardon?He burns them up, freezes, them out, tears them up with tornadoes. God hates trailers. Are you sure I wouldnt be hurting your cause?Katie giggled. Oh, Mrs. Michon, dont be silly. Just last week I read where a womans trailer was picked up by a tornado and dropped almost a mile away and she survived. She said that she was praying the whole time and that God had saved her. You see?Then who sent the tornado in the first place?The two pastel women squirmed on the couch. The blue one spoke first. Wed love to have you at our rule book study group, where we could discuss that, but we have to be getting along. Would you mind signing the peti-tion? She pulled a clipboard out of her ove rsized purse and handed it over to Molly with a pen.So if this works, kids will be able to pray in school?Why, yes. Marge brightened.So the Muslim kids can turn to Mecca seven times a day or whatever and it wont count against their grades?The blue and pink pastel ladies looked at each other. Well, America is a Christian nation, Mrs. Michon.Molly didnt want them to think she was a pushover. She was a smart woman. But kids of other faiths can pray too, right?I suppose so, Katie said. To themselves.Oh good, Molly said as she write the petition, because I know that Stevie could move up to the Red Jets reading group if he could sacrifice a chicken to Vigoth the Worm God, but the teacher wont let him. Why did I say that? Why did I say that? What if they ask where Stevie is?Mrs. MichonWhat? Hed do it at recess, Molly said. Its not like it would cut into study time.We are working on behalf of the One True God, Mrs. Michon. The Coalition is not an interfaith organization. Im sure that if yo u had felt the power of His spirit, you wouldnt talk that way.Oh, Ive felt it.You have?Of course. You can feel it too. Right now.What do you mean?Molly handed the clipboard back to Katie and stood up. Come next door with me. Itll only take a second. I know youll feel it.TheoTheos hopes of finding Mikey Plotznik rose as he drove through the residential areas of Pine Cove. Nearly every neighborhood had two or three people out searching with flashlights and cell phones. Theo stopped and took reports from each search party, then made suggestions as if he had the slightest idea what he was doing. Who was he kidding? He couldnt even find his car keys half the time.Most of Pine Coves neighborhoods were without sidewalks or street-lights. The canopy of pine trees absorbed the moonlight and darkness drank up Theos headlights like an ocean of ink. He plugged his handheld dent-light in the lighter socket and swept it across the houses and into the vacant lots, spotting nothing but a pair of mule deer take in someones rosebuds. As he drove by the beach park a grass playground the size of a football field, surrounded by cypress tree trees and blocked from the Pacific wind by an eight-foot redwood fence he spotted a flash of white moving on one of the elasticity tables. He pulled into the parking strip beside the park and pointed the Volvos headlights, as well as the spotlight, at the table.A couple was going at it right there on the table. The flash of white had been the mans bare ass. Two faces turned into the light, eyes as wide as the two deer Theo had surprised earlier. Normally, Theo would have driven on. He was used to finding people in the act in cars behind the Head of the Slug, or parked along the more rugged strips of coastline. He wasnt the call down police, after all. But tonight he was irritated by the scene. It had been almost a whole day since hed had a hit from his Sneaky Pete. Maybe its a symptom of withdrawal, he thought.He turned off the Volvo and got out, taking his flashlight with him. The couple scrambled into their clothes as he approached, but didnt try to es-cape. There was nowhere for them to go except over the fence, where a narrow beach was bordered on both sides by cliffs and washed by treach-erous, freezing rip tides.When he was halfway across the park, Theo recognized the fornicators and stopped. The woman, a girl really, was Betsy Butler, a waitress down at H.P.s Cafe. She was struggling to pull down her skirt. The man, bald ing and slack-chested, was the saucily widowed Joseph Leander. Theo flashed on the image of Bess Leander hanging from a peg in the spotless dining room.A little discretions in order here, you think Joe? Theo shouted as he walked toward them.Uh, its Joseph, Constable.Theo felt his scalp go hot with anger. He wasnt an angry man by nature, but nature hadnt been working the last hardly a(prenominal) days. No, Its Joseph when youre doing business or when youre grieving over your dead wife. When youre boning a girl half your age on a picnic table in a public park, its Joe.I we things have been so difficult. I dont know what came over us I mean, me. I meanI dont suppose youve seen a kid around here tonight? A boy, about ten?The girl shook her head. She was covering her face with one hand and staring into the grass at her feet. Joseph Leanders gaze darted around the park as if a magic escape hatch would open up in the dark if he could only spot it. No, I havent seen a boy.Technically, Theo knew he could arrest them both on the spot for indecent exposure, but he didnt want to take the time to process them into County Justice. Go home, Joe. Alone. Your daughters shouldnt be by themselves right now. Betsy, do you have a ride?Without uncovering her face, she said, I only live two blocks away.Go home. Now. Theo turned and walked back to the Volvo. No one had ever accused Theo of being clever (except for the time at a college party when he fashioned an emergency bong out of a t wo-liter Coke bottle and a Bic pen), but he was feeling somewhat less than clever for not having investigated Bess Leanders death more carefully. It was one thing to be hired because youre thought to be a fool, its quite another to live up to the reputation. Tomorrow, he thought. First find the kid.MollyMolly stood in the mud with the two pastel Christian ladies looking at the dragon trailer.Can you feel it?Why, whatever do you mean? Marge said. Thats just a dirty old trailer excuse me mobile home. Until a second ago, she had only been concerned with her powder-blue high heels sinking into the wet turf. Now she and her partner were staring at the dragon trailer, wide-eyed.They could feel it, Molly could tell. She could feel it too a low-grade sense of contentment, something vaguely sexual, not quite joy, but close. Youre feeling it?The two women looked to each other, trying to deny that they were feeling anything. Their eyes were glazed over as if theyd been drugged, and they fidg eted as if suppressing giggles. Katie, the pink one, said, Maybe we should visit these people. She took a tentative step toward the dragon trailer.Molly stepped in front of her. Theres no one there. Its just a feeling. You two should probably go fill out your petition.Its late, said powder blue. Maybe one more visit, then we have to go.No Molly blocked their path. This wasnt as fun as she thought it would be. She had wanted to freak them out a little, not harm them. She had the distinct feeling that if they got any closer to the dragon trailer, school prayer would be losing two well-groomed votes. You two need to get home. She took each by a shoulder and led them back to the street, then pushed them toward the entrance of the trailer park. They looked longingly over their shoulders at the dragon trailer.I feel the spirit moving in me, Katie, Marge said.Molly gave them another push. Right, thats a good thing. Off you go. And she was supposed to be the crazy one.Go, go, go, Molly said . I have to get Stevies dinner ready.Were sorry we missed meeting your little boy, Katie said. Where is he?Homework. See ya. Bye.Molly watched the women walk out of the park and climb into a new Chrysler minivan, then she turned back to the dragon trailer. For some reason, she was no longer afraid.Youre hungry, arent you, Stevie?The dragon trailer shifted shape, angles melting to curves, windows going back to eyes, but the glow wasnt as intense as it had been in the early dawn. Molly saw the burned gill trees, the soot and blistered flesh between the scales. Soft blue lines of color flashed across the dragons flanks and faded. Molly felt her heart sink in sympathy. This thing, whatever it was, was hurting.Molly took a few steps closer. I have a feeling youre too old to be a Stevie. And the original Stevie might be offended. How about Steve? You look like a Steve. Molly liked the name Steve. Her agent at CAA had been named Steve. Steve was a good name for a reptile. (As opposed to St evie, which was more of a frozen goldfish name.)She felt a wave of warmth run through her amid the sadness. The monster liked his name.You shouldnt have eaten that kid.Steve said nothing. Molly took another step forward, still on guard. You have to go away. I cant help you.Im crazy, you know? I have the papers from the state to prove it.The Sea Beast rolled over on his back like a submissive puppy and gave Molly a pathetically helpless look, no easy task for an animal capable of swallowing a Volkswagen.No, Molly said.The Sea Beast whimpered, no louder than a newborn baby kitten.Oh, this is just swell, Molly said. Imagine the meds Dr. Val is going to put me on when I tell her about this. The vegetable and the lizard, thats what theyll call us. I hope youre happy.Peer pinchBut I dont want to go among mad people, Alice remarked.Oh, you cant help that, said the cat. Were all mad here. Immad. Youre mad.How do you know Im mad? said Alice.You must be, said the cat, or you wouldnt have co me here. LEWIS CARROL,Alices Adventures in Wonderland