384
DAVID ZANE MAIROWITZ
were the pieces of her and each was like soft fur caressing the whole
of her as she stampeded the dustbowl. Every joint ached in her com–
ing-alive and she was inspired to bend her weight toward the brink
in order to feel the deathglide through unfriendly space, a collapsing
in air, the acceptance of her fall, the split-second preening for the
act of impact. And the prepared strength
in
the certainty she would
never scream.
He was content to murder frogs with his pistol. The brook lay
stretched below a dark cliff and he casually fired at frantic amphibi–
ans. When he was bored, he fired first to the side of the frog, hoping
to nail it
in
mid-leap with a second shot. Then he told her to take
off her clothes which she did without protest. Did she have protec–
tion? She didn't understand. He had a rubber, he said, but didn't feel
like using it. What did she think of that? She didn't think anything.
Keep your pants on. It was more fun that way anyway. The sun
was melting her brain and, like paste, she glided wherever his fingers
spread her. And soon he was battering at her through her under–
wear and she lay thoroughly clutched and unmoving. She could feel
the soft cloth tickling her inside and quickly his moisture gathering
in her. More than that she could not answer for. Where's the blood,
he demanded. She had nothing to give him, not even this desperate
gesture to nature. He cleaned himself in her hair and she was forced
to wash it in the brook so that on the return up the canyon it no
longer sailed behind her like a mare's tail, but cracked wet and heavy
on her back like whips.
"You need some mending tape about three-eighths of an inch
wide. Now you dissolve equal amounts of potassium chlorate and
sugar in boiling water. The solution must be strong but not saturated.
Soak the tape in the solution and wrap it round the cartridge base,
making sure to get as many turns of the fuse as you can. 'When
it
dries
your fuse will burn at about two minutes per foot."
His hand
is
now on her head and his fingers are laughing over
the new-shorn fuzz of it. Crudely shaved at the neck, she will need
a wig for her performance.
"You will need some straight clothes."
"I haven't any money."
"That's your problem. You 'll need hair and makeup too. See
