Dhalgren

“Un-huh. De

“Why don’t you let me carry the rest of those?”

“That’s all right. De

“What?”

“I don’t think me and my friend—”

She glanced back.

Kid did too.

The blond girl in the pea jacket was just behind them.

“—are going to stay with you guys anymore. I just wanted to bring you your stuff.”

“Hey,” De

“I don’t know.” She adjusted the other bags. “We just want to go somewhere else. We don’t want to be members. And we know some nice people who have a house where we thought we could stay. It’s just girls there.”

“Just girls?” De

“Boys can visit and stuff like that. Boys just don’t live there. I just don’t think I want to live with you guys anymore. I mean after the fire—” once more she glanced at Kid—“and everything. You know.”

“Jesus,” De

“You can come visit me, too. If you want.”

“Shit,” De

“I just think it would be better. I mean if I live someplace else. It’s a very nice place. They’re very nice girls.”

De

She said: “I’m pretty sure I got everything. What are you looking for? If it’s not in there, it’s probably in here.”

“I’m not looking for anything.”

“Oh.”

The mask of Kid’s face tingled. Suddenly he turned to Copperhead. “You ever been in any of these houses?”

“No.”

“Let’s try that one.”

“Sure.”

Kid turned to the others. “Hey! Hold up there, will you?” He walked up the unpainted steps. Halfway, he glanced back:

She shifted paper bags in her arms, biting at her lip while trying to get them comfortable. De

In his hand, the knob’s squared and toothy shaft slid out another inch—

Kid pushed the door in.

The loose ceiling fixture—

He ran his eyes over the hall, waiting for sounds of occupancy.

The crayoning on the dirty wall—

He had the oddest feeling. “Anybody home?”

“Well, if they are,” Copperhead said, “they can damn well get ready to move the fuck out. ’Cause we come to pay a long visit, right?” Others laughed. Copperhead called up: “Does it look okay?”

“Yeah. It looks pretty…”

“Should we come on up?”

“Yeah, come on.”

At the end of the hall the bathroom door was open. Footsteps behind him passed around him; and somebody carrying the chained ma

The house came alive with scorpions.

With a feeling of suspended confusion, he wandered through the front room into the kitchen.

Copperhead was looking in the cabinets above the sink. “Whole lot of ca

Kid decided he didn’t like it here.

Outside the screen door, the sky heaved and twisted like a chained thing.

He turned abruptly into the living room.

The blond girl in the pea jacket sat on the couch, fists between her knees, watching two scorpions lay out a mattress on the floor. She looked at Kid, hunched her shoulders, and looked back at the scorpions. She seemed very tired.

“Hey, man,” Dollar said behind his shoulder, “this is a really fine place.” Clutching his lion, he shouldered open a door across the hall. Several guys were inside, straightening out mattresses and sleeping bags. Dollar pushed his way among them to set the lion in the window. He turned, silhouetted before the torn window shade. The brass beast peered by his hip from the sill. “Hey, man. You shouldn’t have brought that old burned-up mattress with us. It’s go

“It’s the only one I had,” the scorpion (another white guy named California) said, and yanked it across the floor. He dropped the corner to overlap another.

Newspaper and magazine pictures had been at one time pasted over the wall; then some of them ripped off.

A black scorpion Kid didn’t know stood up and gri

I prefer, Kid thought, the red eyes, Goddamn it!

Across the hall, the door to the service porch was open. He started in, and stopped, one hand on the jamb. There was neither glass nor screening in the windows. Siam sat on a crate. “Hey…” He pulled the newspaper into his lap and looked at Kid with growing confusion. “I was…was reading the paper.” Siam offered a smile, thought better, and took it back. “Just reading the paper.” He stood; the paper fell on the floor. The boards had once been painted maroon. “Is there something you want me to do…? I was go

“Naw,” Kid said. “Naw, that’s all right.”

The verdigrised spigot on the wall splashed on the muddy drain.

Something clanked and ground behind him.

Kid turned.

The Ripper and Devastation wheeled the Harley up the hall:

“I don’t see why you wanted to bring this piece of junk along. You can’t get no gas for it, and you say the motor’s all shot anyway.”

“Well, it’s a good bike, if I could get it fixed.”

“You want to put it in the bathroom like last time?”

“Shit, these cocksuckers get drunk and don’t aim at all. And you know one of ’em’s go

“Aw, come on, motherfucker—”

“No, man! Hey, De

“I guess so.” De

Kid walked up to him, took his shoulder. “She go?”

Lips pursed, De

Inside, someone leaned the shovels against the wall beside an ironing board.

They backed up the Harley to wheel it in.

“Hey, is this go

Kid said, “Probably.”

“It ain’t go

“If it’s in the Kid’s room, nobody’s go

“That’s okay.”

Kid squeezed De

“Hey,” De

Kid’s spine chilled. He stood very still. “De

“What?”

“Did the place where we came from have a loft?”

De

“It wasn’t?”

“This one’s a lot bigger,” De

“What was the place like we were living before?”

“Huh?”

“Describe it to me. I can’t remember it. I can’t…remember anything about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“What color were the walls painted?”

“White weren’t they?”

Frowning, Kid nodded. The walls about them were green.

“You really don’t remember where we lived before?”

Kid shook his head.

“We had,” De

“How did it compare to here?”

“What…do you mean?” De

“How is this place different?”

“Shit,” De

“I guess so,” Kid said.

“Can I put some of my shit up there? These cocksuckers will walk off with anything you just leave around.”