Mai at the Predators' Ball Read Free Page A

needed rubber dildos and the answer would have been that it caught guys’ eyes when he was dancing, so you just shove those things anywhere anytime under that micro-skirt of yours Petites Cendres would have shot back, with all your talent I wonder why, though obviously, twenty years younger, nothing was off limits to Robbie, vulgarity was all part of the show Robbie said tonight as he untangled his thick hair, curling and uncurling it at will, he was in for a long reign as the tempestuous, desirable, damnable animal of all night-time prowls, oh no this picture was too much for Petites Cendres to bear, galling how much imagination these new recruits had . . . Yinn dressing Robbie up in wilder and wilder outfits, modelling him to his own taste, slipping his arm around his waist, cozying up to him saying you know, everything, I mean everything, looks so fabulous on you Robbie, she’d say beneath the docks where you could hear the students on break manhandling the boats as they smacked into the waves, should’ve yelled at them to quiet down, Yinn still leading the procession, orchids clutched like tiny weights across his chest, Petites Cendres brushed shoulders with Robbie, far more muscular than he even in the tight dress he wore to troll the sidewalks at night, the same scorpion tattooed on it as Jason, Yinn’s husband, yes husband, and just as muscular, let’s take a pause and pray, we’re already by the sea so do we really need to pray as well said Robbie, I mean do we really have to pray after all this walking especially in these shoes, do you really think Fatalité would want all this performance, she was just a simple sex-obsessed girl after all, it’s about respect said Petites Cendres, and you’re only wearing those party shoes for show anyway, Yinn’s the theatre whiz shot back Robbie, look at him strutting it like the ocean is his backdrop, bumming around and looking for excitement, hell, even he doesn’t know who he is, do you or me or any of us have any idea where he’s from, Christ my feet are killing me and we really have to pray as well, that’s why Fatalité did this in the first place, to save us all this trouble, I’m telling you she knew Yinn would be lost without all this showboating, he’s loving every minute of it, the crowd by the sea under an overcast sky, the basket of rose petals and orchids for everyone, just so Yinn doesn’t get bored, because God knows Yinn mustn’t be bored, when she’s bored she lifts her skirt and does pirouettes in the street like a spinning top, all kinds of crap just to be provocative and why, because she can’t stand being bored, anything’s better, even obscene provocation, goddammit my feet hurt and the wind’s so strong I can’t hear a word of Jason’s prayers anyway, I mean death is the greatest thing that can happen to a person so no way should it be boring, right, and while Robbie gossiped away, Petites Cendres standing right next to him saw a flash of about fifty young men tied up on a Thai beach all looking like Yinn and staring at him in a way he just couldn’t define, soon after being refused sanctuary they would immediately reboard their makeshift boat to go home again and drown on the way, never mind their being as young and handsome as Yinn, they were condemned to die at sea, their hands tied behind their backs, trussed like parcels and knowing they would die on board those rickety sieves, and that was the way it should be, out of sight out of mind, for the authorities, Cambodia and Laos didn’t want them either, so into the deep with them — Gulf of Siam, Andaman Sea, whatever — leave those sneaky illegals to the silent muddy waves out of sight, and with them the mystery of Yinn’s birth told to Petites Cendres this way, so here I am the only one left alive because I broke free, that’s how come, broke the chain and the rope with my teeth, my servitude along with them Petites Cendres, and Fatalité had her story too Robbie chimed in, a