Dhalgren

“Um-hum.”

“Me too.” She watched him. “Only I leave them where I find them. Like buildings. Or trees. Or paintings in museums.”

“You just—” De

She nodded.

De

“But you don’t have to do it that way here. You can just take what you want. Well, maybe not the trees and the buildings. But the paintings, if you find one you like, you just carry it with you. Shit, you can go live in a fuckin’ building if you like it! In front of the fuckin’ tree!”

“No.” Lanya let her thin back bend. “I’m into collecting pretty, useful objects. Yours are just pretty.”

“Huh?”

“But if they’re supposed to stay useful, I have to leave them where they are.”

“You think there’s something wrong with taking that stuff?”

“No…of course not. As long as you didn’t take it from somebody.”

“Well it must have belonged to somebody once.”

“Do you think there’s something wrong with taking it?”

“Shit.” De

“It’s not—”

“Say,” De

“Huh?” Lanya recovered from her surprise with an unsteady grin. “I beg your pardon.”

“I mean take money for going to bed with somebody.”

“No, I certainly haven’t.”

“De

“Yeah, sure,” De

Her amusement faltered toward curiosity. “Why?”

“Would you?”

“I don’t know…perhaps.” She laughed again and took his knee in her hands. “Are you pla

De

“Hey!” Lanya shrieked, and scrambled back under the cubes of colored wood.

De

“Oh, cut that out—”

He threw another one and laughed.

“Damn it—”

Scowling, she picked up a handful and flung them back, hard. He ducked: they clicked the wall.

She hurled another that hit his head.

“Ahh…!” He flung one back.

She laughed and threw two more, one with the left hand and one with the right. Both hit. De

“You’re go

Lanya was laughing too, almost so hard she couldn’t throw.

A cube hit Kid’s hip. He knocked it back onto the blanket. Another went over his shoulder, clattering to the floor. He watched them turn and duck and toss and wished they would throw pieces at him. After a while they did.

He threw them back, tried to guard the edge, gave up, by now laughing himself, till it hurt beneath his sternum, and couldn’t stop laughing, so hurled the bright cubes with gold p’s, q’s, k’s, and r’s.

“It’s not fair!” Lanya cried against Kid’s arm, then laughed again, when they had made him abandon the loft edge.

“Just ’cause you throw so hard!” Cube in hand, De

“Come on…now…” Kid panted, and couldn’t laugh anymore.

De

Lanya pulled back, threw another. It deflected from De

De

Lanya looked out tentatively. “Maybe we better go down and pick them up.”

Frowning, De

A shirt casing had gotten torn.

“Let’s go down,” Kid said.

Lanya followed him on the ladder.

They picked up cubes. When De

“Hey, don’t—” De

“I’m sorry!” Lanya snickered again. “Here, let me help.” She followed him into the leaning tools, piled chairs, cartons. She held back an ironing board while De

She came over with the box, and held it for Kid to put in his handful. While he fingered them clumsily into place, she asked, “Have you ever taken money for having sex with somebody?”

“Yes.”

“Men and women?”

One cube stuck against another; Kid pressed, and another jumped out of the matrix. “Just men.”

“Maybe I should try it,” she said after a moment. “Everybody thinks about it.”

“Why?” Kid stopped for another cube by his foot.

“And maybe you’ve just made a good point.”

When Kid stood to place the cube, she added:

“But that wouldn’t stop me.”

She snapped the lid and turned toward De

Kid gri

“There’re still some up top.” She started up the ladder.

“I don’t see anymore here.” Kid started behind her.

“Hey—!” De

Then something locked around Kid’s neck, scraped his sides, and hung on.

“Fuck, what the—”

“Carry me!” De

“Fuck you!” Kid shouted, sagging on his grip. He tried to shake the boy loose. “Don’t choke me to death, you stupid…bastard!” He hauled up another rung.

Lanya crouched on the ledge. “You’ll drop him—”

Kid hauled up one more. “Get on up there, cocksucker!”

Lanya was tugging at De

Kid tried to heave De

“Hey—!”

Kid felt De

Lanya sat beside him, slapping first her thighs and then her stomach, once more helpless with laughter.

“Fuck you.” Kid crouched on the loft edge. As he leaned forward, something hissed across his chest.

“Hey, my chain!”

“What?” De

Kid wondered if that was what had scraped so at his side.

Lanya watched, her lips apart.

“My chain,” Kid repeated; he turned to sit on the edge of the loft, and looked down. The end, dangling from his foot, swung inches above the floor. He reached down to pull it up. “It broke this morning…somebody broke it.”

“Who?” Lanya asked.

“Somebody broke it. I tried to fix it, but I knew it probably wouldn’t hold.”

With two fingers he followed it across his shoulder. The break was at the same link. He pulled the ends together.

“Wait a second,” Lanya said. “You don’t have any nails. Let me look.” She crouched before Kid, so close her hair tickled his chest. How can she see, he wondered. “I just about got it.”

She did something with her teeth.

“Hey…?” Kid asked.

“There,” and pushed herself backward.

Behind Lanya, De

“Don’t those get in your way?” She glanced over De

“Who?” De

“I don’t know,” Kid said. “I really don’t.”

He fingered for the weak link. Part of it was the dimness, but he doubted he could find that link now even in full light. He tugged, first here, then there. “You really fixed it?”