appear until after the strangeness has passed. She thought of this when she was sitting on the living room floor looking into the eyes of Looee, who washolding her fingers on the bottle with hands that had grown so much in just a few months.
The deal between Walt and Henry had been that Henry would find an appropriate place to present the chimp to him and Judy. That seemed the hardest part to Henry. He had done this a few times now. He knew to buy a small cage, rent a pickup, drive to Newark, slip cash to the right people. The laws about exotics didn’t exist in those days and quarantine was a matter of money. He knew exactly what he would do with the chimp but he couldn’t think of how to present it back in Vermont. He got his shoes shined at the airport in Newark by a really nice guy named Louis. He told Louis with the right sort of wink that he was staying at the Radisson and Louis recommended a girl who gave Henry a ten-dollar handjob that he would have paid double for. He wanted to kiss her but when he leaned forward she recoiled. He drove back to Vermont and thought there’s that jungle gym in the park for the kids, I’ll arrange that we all meet there.
two
FLORIDA
The World needs fruit. The World needs sleep. The World needs touch and the quick pink heat.
Podo rules the World. Podo chooses his moments.
He limps and others limp to be like him. He eats his breakfast with loaded hands, and alms drop and scatter like seeds from a shaken tree. He greets his friends and assesses the day and the day bows down to black Podo. He takes Fifi by the hips while she sucks on an orange.
He will play with children and pin their mothers.
Podo runs to the greybald tree and swings around it once and twice and does something else without thinking what it was, and it is always something to behold, fast Podo.
Outside are grass and dirt and swollen birds, high summer, there is concrete and society. Armpit heat and guilty meat, and friends who come and go.
Look to Podo if the food is taken from your mouths.
Look to him if you think all food can be yours.
He wants Fanta.
He will pound the eyes of detractors.
Show him your rosé.
A bird flies over the World.
Fifi watches Mr. Ghoul.
Mama likes Fifi.
Fifi likes Mama.
Magda slaps Bootie.
Bootie likes Burke and hitting Magda, his mother.
Podo is pinning Magda and neither really wants it.
Bootie and the new one are jumping all over Magda and Podo.
Bootie slaps Podo on the leg.
Podo is busy, sharp Podo.
Bootie and the new one want to understand.
They want it to stop, continue.
The new one is looking at Magda’s rosé getting pin, pin, pinned by Podo, and Bootie is thinking about slapping or biting the swinging balls of Podo.
Podo thinks a thought that he can taste and the World swells hot and dark.
He has finished.
Magda walks away without looking over her shoulder.
Bootie and the new one are bewildered.
Podo feels the oa, grateful Podo. Magda feels safe.
He is huge, black Podo, and he walks with black hair raised, and daylight blue and slick on his body, and his shoulders arewidening, legs surprising, he coils and uncoils with prowess and venerable grace.
There is oa in the ground and oa in the wind and everyone knuckles and bows, how-do.
Mr. Ghoul spends the morning eating onions.
three
Looee reached for Judy before conversation began. The little guy in the diaper and red shirt. As soon as she was near he reached out with both hands, apparently not caring if he fell from Henry’s neck. Henry introduced his burden by name as he was losing it. L-o-o-e-e he added, spelling it thus because he reckoned the woman would find that cute.
All the way to Burlington her anxiety had grown.
What will he eat she said.
I don’t know. I don’t know all that much Walt said.
She tried to calm herself by not thinking deeply. Walt had said they seemed so human. She sang and ignored the cramps in her belly.
At that moment of meeting, Looee lunged and nuzzled and squirmed
The deal between Walt and Henry had been that Henry would find an appropriate place to present the chimp to him and Judy. That seemed the hardest part to Henry. He had done this a few times now. He knew to buy a small cage, rent a pickup, drive to Newark, slip cash to the right people. The laws about exotics didn’t exist in those days and quarantine was a matter of money. He knew exactly what he would do with the chimp but he couldn’t think of how to present it back in Vermont. He got his shoes shined at the airport in Newark by a really nice guy named Louis. He told Louis with the right sort of wink that he was staying at the Radisson and Louis recommended a girl who gave Henry a ten-dollar handjob that he would have paid double for. He wanted to kiss her but when he leaned forward she recoiled. He drove back to Vermont and thought there’s that jungle gym in the park for the kids, I’ll arrange that we all meet there.
two
FLORIDA
The World needs fruit. The World needs sleep. The World needs touch and the quick pink heat.
Podo rules the World. Podo chooses his moments.
He limps and others limp to be like him. He eats his breakfast with loaded hands, and alms drop and scatter like seeds from a shaken tree. He greets his friends and assesses the day and the day bows down to black Podo. He takes Fifi by the hips while she sucks on an orange.
He will play with children and pin their mothers.
Podo runs to the greybald tree and swings around it once and twice and does something else without thinking what it was, and it is always something to behold, fast Podo.
Outside are grass and dirt and swollen birds, high summer, there is concrete and society. Armpit heat and guilty meat, and friends who come and go.
Look to Podo if the food is taken from your mouths.
Look to him if you think all food can be yours.
He wants Fanta.
He will pound the eyes of detractors.
Show him your rosé.
A bird flies over the World.
Fifi watches Mr. Ghoul.
Mama likes Fifi.
Fifi likes Mama.
Magda slaps Bootie.
Bootie likes Burke and hitting Magda, his mother.
Podo is pinning Magda and neither really wants it.
Bootie and the new one are jumping all over Magda and Podo.
Bootie slaps Podo on the leg.
Podo is busy, sharp Podo.
Bootie and the new one want to understand.
They want it to stop, continue.
The new one is looking at Magda’s rosé getting pin, pin, pinned by Podo, and Bootie is thinking about slapping or biting the swinging balls of Podo.
Podo thinks a thought that he can taste and the World swells hot and dark.
He has finished.
Magda walks away without looking over her shoulder.
Bootie and the new one are bewildered.
Podo feels the oa, grateful Podo. Magda feels safe.
He is huge, black Podo, and he walks with black hair raised, and daylight blue and slick on his body, and his shoulders arewidening, legs surprising, he coils and uncoils with prowess and venerable grace.
There is oa in the ground and oa in the wind and everyone knuckles and bows, how-do.
Mr. Ghoul spends the morning eating onions.
three
Looee reached for Judy before conversation began. The little guy in the diaper and red shirt. As soon as she was near he reached out with both hands, apparently not caring if he fell from Henry’s neck. Henry introduced his burden by name as he was losing it. L-o-o-e-e he added, spelling it thus because he reckoned the woman would find that cute.
All the way to Burlington her anxiety had grown.
What will he eat she said.
I don’t know. I don’t know all that much Walt said.
She tried to calm herself by not thinking deeply. Walt had said they seemed so human. She sang and ignored the cramps in her belly.
At that moment of meeting, Looee lunged and nuzzled and squirmed
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