Mai at the Predators' Ball Read Free

good, Jason could bring you a cold one, then just have a nap, I’ll be right here with you tonight; Fatalité’s my name, Fatalité, and I’m twenty-nine, Yinn there at the head of the procession, and what was he thinking, walk, keep walking, we’ve got a show advertised for ten and tonight we’re taking up a collection, nobody realized how flat broke he was, can you believe it, Yinn in a red vest and orchids pressed against his chest heavy as a crucifix thought Petites Cendres, Yinn told them all as they walked along, remember those songs he loved, and Yinn sang them into the teeth of the February wind, I want a perfect body, a perfect soul, I want then I am loving angels instead , why, why does this time have to come at all thought Petites Cendres, the time for loving angels and nothing else, what was the point of a perfect body only to have it tripped into infinity, yes I want a perfect body, a perfect soul , and o h baby don’t go breaking my heart , Petites Cendres joined in too while passersby respectfully greeted Yinn at the front, oh baby , it was him, it was Fatalité, her body once more shrunk back into our cradle in the shadows, on this earth though, oh on this earth I did find some peace, Yinn sang beneath her breath or perhaps it was only a lamentation, no way to know for sure, perfect body, perfect soul, I want, I want he sang, in the cabaret when Fatalité danced and sang all night, burlesque send-ups, off-colour jibes at the audience, that’s what got all the shameless laughs, she partied and never once tripped running up the steep stairs to the stage, love me, hug me, kiss me she sang, our secret intimacy that said all the things that shouldn’t be said, her spiteful jokes, vodka in hand, let’s party, love me, hug me, kiss me , when vengeful love shakes itself free and us with it, he loved his songs, tunes with no meaning at all, love me, hug me, kiss me , a perfect body and a perfect soul now atrophied and unrecognizable, with only the angels to love, thought Petites Cendres, and Dieudonné buzzing in his ears, you see the rings around your eyes, the sad expression, see that’s what happens when you spend your nights out on the sidewalk or in the sauna at the Porte du Baiser instead of at home asleep, Dieudonné looked at him wondering what could be done with such simple candor in the face of utter collapse and destruction all around him, Christ what can we do with you when you just won’t listen the doctor said, okay look, I’ve got to take the girls to school early for their morning gymnastics, no idea what it takes to be a father, have you Petites Cendres, well it’s one joy you’re never going to have, are you, no straight and narrow for you either, Porte du Baiser Saloon, there it was right on Petites Cendres’ vest lettered white on black, WHERE REAL MEN COME TO PLAY , trust me, rushing up and down the stairs like that, Fatalité had to be on speed, speed and all that other crap, your beautiful sinister Fatalité, that’s what did it, you know that don’t you, I want a perfect body, a perfect soul sang Yinn, the wind snapping the flags along the street, hail to you Fatalité he said, through the circle of fire, your soul be at peace in a world where no one else’s can, Fatalité, we love and kiss you, hug me, kiss me Yinn sang, oh Fatalité was loved as she deserved, so loved, thought Petites Cendres walking with the others to the dock shoulder to shoulder with Robbie who was going to do the evening shows instead and who was a half-breed like Petites Cendres himself — though twenty years younger — a new recruit he thought, money tucked into the laces and frills down his front, a cruel spectacle of ruined youth, and legs that would get him through anything, so hard to see, Yinn’s heart was his without begging, years piled on years he said thoughtlessly, that’s what’s waiting for us, shut up said Petites Cendres, you snotty kid, Petites Cendres felt like asking him why he