116
PARTISAN REVIEW
All in all Lutz loved it. No one is mor.e willing to
be
tricked, or quite so
keen on being led on a wander, as one devious writer reading another
even more devious than himself.
The next day Lutz was waiting in the study with Ockersly, who sat
in a far corner, worse the wear from yesterday and last night, moaning
now and then as if crooning some old tune. Then the door swung open
and Abbott entered. He glowered at Lutz and grunted a greeting as he
went behind the large desk and tried to climb up into the swivel chair.
It kept turning and he hopped after it on his hind feet. He succeeded in
getting into the chair, but with his back to the desk. With difficulty he
straightened the chair and stared at the pages piled on the desk.
Cookie pulled a serving cart to the doorway. "Oh my God,"
Abbott mumbled as Cookie mixed a large jar of what looked like mud
jelly. He brought it in, shook it out of the jar with a sucking plop into
a bowl which he set on the desk before Abbott. The poet clenched his
eyes and commenced to choke it down, gagging and curling his lips
back from his long teeth, whining and shivering. Cookie leaned toward
me and said low, "Muciloid. For his poor gut."
Abbott lifted his head and started to turn away from the bowl. "Ah
ha," Cookie said.
Abbott tried to speak but couldn't.
Cookie reached into the bowl and scooped up the large lump
remaining. "Open up."
"Uh," Abbott grunted. He whined, then opened his huge mouth,
and Cookie slid the last of the muciloid down his throat.
Cookie left with the bowl, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Abbott tilted back the swivel chair. He drew his lips back from his
fangs and gasped. "My God. You can't imagine, Lutz.. You just cannot
imagine."
He tilted forward and stared disconsolately at the desk. He pawed
the pile of papers, knocking some off. Lutz picked them up. "What's
that?" Abbott said, and peered at the pages Lutz held up. "Ah. Good.
I'm glad you found that. Throw it away." Lutz laid the pages in the
wastebasket. "Now this other stuff," Abbott said. "There's a bunch of
letters here somewhere. ... Been saving them for you to answer." With
both paws he stirred the papers. This apparently made him dizzy. He
leaned back, the chair tilting. He stared off. Then again he saw Lutz
sitting there. He blinked twice and spoke low, conspiratorially. "Just a
pinch, eh? Mostly water, but with just a tincture ...
?"
Lutz poured them both one, nicely watered, and one for Ockersly.
He placed Abbott's bowl amid the papers. He drank and grinned up at
