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from the train comes in, but it quickly returns to its regular level. Jarrod, Kelp and one of the men named
Poppyseed sit down together at a table.
A woman in a short two-piece pink dress approaches them. Her hair is long, but piled high upon her
head, and she smells strongly of some flower that Jarrod doesn't know. Not dandelion greenness, though.
That he would recognize.
"What can I get you boys?" the woman says.
"How about a half hour with you, Tiffany," Kelp says. He reaches out and runs his hand across the
woman's buttocks. She backs from his reach, but does nothing else. That would get a ranger killed,
Jarrod thinks.
"Sorry, sugar. I'm waiting tables till later." At that moment, she notices Jarrod, and turns to smile upon
him. "Well now, Kelp, what have you drug in with you tonight?"
Kelp rubs his chin, frowns. "Oh you like that, do you?"
"He's a cutie, all right. Ain't seen his like in a while. He's a young and pretty one."
"Young and inexperienced," Kelp says. "What you need is a man who "
"I'm a good teacher," Tiffany says. "And by the looks of his clothes, he's got the brank to pay for it."
"So do I!" Kelp says, digging into his pocket. He pulls out a wad of crumpled notes.
"Olympia Town brank? That's about enough to buy you a bottle and a place to sit and drink yourself
stupid."
"Mothercunt," Kelp mutters.
"I just want some water," Jarrod says to the woman.
"Sure you do, honey," the woman says. She takes the orders of Kelp and Poppyseed, then brushes a
hand against Jarrod's bare cheek as she walks away. The flowery perfume she wears makes his eyes tear
up for a moment.
"She sure likes you, Captain," Poppyseed says, shaking his head and smiling. "I'd get me some of that if I
was you."
"What? Is this place a whorehouse, or "
"Tiffany'd slit your throat with a butter knife if she heard you saying that," Kelp replies. "She's got a head
for trade, but she's a little loopy other ways." Kelp gestures around the room. "This is the Angry Duck
House of Drain, and Tiffany and Alexia are Sisters of the Railroad. Proper Birch and Pond sect, all
chartered by the oversight committees and everything. Well, mostly."
Tiffany returns with the drinks and food, and again brushes up against Jarrod.
"I think she'll give you the special," Kelp says, and then digs into his huevos rancheros at least that is
what Jarrod heard him order. It looks like amalgamated mush to him.
He drinks his water only it isn't water, but a golden liquid. Sweet and strong with alcohol.
"What is this?"
"That's mead the Duck's trademark," Kelp says. "The women make it from out of the beehives out
back. You'd see them if it was daylight."
After the meal, Kelp and Poppyseed have a smoke. Jarrod watches the fumes curl up toward the ceiling,
winding into dissipation. There is the sound of a metal skillet being thwacked repeatedly.
"Hey, hey," Kelp says. "Time for dessert."
Along with many of the other men in the room, Jarrod, Kelp and Poppyseed line up in single file. They
step through a trapdoor in a corner and descend a flight of stairs into a basement, smaller than the main
dining room. It is all of brick, and its walls are hung with smoky pitch-oil lamps that burn yellow-orange.
As each man reaches the bottom of the stairs, he is met by a woman, who takes him by the arm and
leads him into the room. The women are naked, but for their shoes.
Jarrod finds Tiffany taking hold of him and pulling him into the room.
"Damn the mothercunt, she got him," Kelp says, behind Jarrod.
In the far corner Jarrod catches a glimpse of a wooden table, but he cannot see through the press of
bodies what is on the table. Tiffany leads him into the room. Her hair is down now, and her nipples are
dark. She's suckled children, Jarrod thinks. But she still seems young maybe only a few years older
than he is. Her shoes have heels that put her on tiptoe as she walks.
There is more clanging of pans, and the room grows quieter although never completely silent. A
woman climbs up on the table and speaks.
"Welcome to the Dessert Feast, ladies and gentlemen," she says. "I'm Sister Alexia, and I'll be your
server tonight." She bends down and picks up a handful of something that looks like brown jelly. It drips
through her fingers.
"Thank the Mother," she says.
From the crowd comes a roar of approval.
"The Mother gives us long life," she says. "If we only eat her bounty."
"Yeah!" yells someone behind Jarrod. Jarrod recognizes Kelp's harsh voice once again. "Yeah, eat it! Eat
it!"
Alexia lifts up her hands, covered with the jelly. "We bring to thee this oblation," she proclaims, "which is
the very fruit of the Mother."
Everyone cheers in the room, and Alexia proceeds to lick her hands clean. Alexia motions, and a man
climbs up and joins her on the table. The crowd parts slightly, and Jarrod can now see that the two of
them are standing amid a heap of steaming food. Alexia undoes the man's trousers, drops them, and
begins to rub against him.
Without further ado, the women, the sisters of the order, turn to the men and begin to do the same to
them. Jarrod backs away before Tiffany can lower his pants. She pushes him back through the crowd
and into a wall. There are too many people around for Jarrod to escape up the stairs.
"This is the Feast," she says. "Share the Feast."
"I'm not one of your "
"Doesn't matter, cutie. You don't have to join." She reaches down and strokes him. "You just have to
share." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]