‘Wow,’ I said. ‘Did you read that in a fortune cookie?’
‘All right,’ said Chauncey, ‘you can make jokes all you like but blood is a serious thing.’
‘Tell me about it,’ I said.
‘Hear, O Israel!’ said a strange voice. There was a parrot in a large cage in a corner of the room.
‘That’s Elijah,’ said Chauncey. ‘He’s a member of the Chun family.’
‘Handsome bird,’ I said. ‘African grey?’
‘Tishbite,’ said Elijah. ‘First Kings, not dew nor rain.’
‘Rosalie does Bible readings with him,’ said Chauncey.
‘My word,’ said Elijah.
‘OK already,’ said Chauncey.
‘Some of my best friends are goyim,’ said Elijah.
‘Great,’ I said, ‘but I still wouldn’t want my sister to marry a parrot.’
‘Why didn’t you phone before coming?’ said Chauncey. ‘Is everything all right?’
‘Everything’s fine,’ I said. ‘I just didn’t want you to make any preparations.’ I gave him the whisky.
‘Thanks,’ he said. He turned his back on Elijah and lowered his voice. ‘Has H-U-N-T-E-R been around again?’
‘Not yet. Where’s Justine?’
‘Napping. She sleeps a lot.’ He looked as if he might say more but didn’t. He got two glasses and poured the Glenfiddich.
‘L’haim,’ said Elijah.
‘Cheers,’ said Chauncey without much enthusiasm.
‘Here’s to romance,’ I said.
He laughed in a small way. ‘That’s right: all you need is love.’
‘How is she?’ I said. ‘Are you topping her up or is she hunting?’
‘Neither. Rosalie’s been feeding her kosher Chinese plus Golem broth and gosky patties Ba’al Shem Tov and she seems to be thriving on it — she’s even put on a pound or two.’
‘Wonderful! And she’s not losing colour?’
‘No, she’s looking great.’
‘Phwoarr,’ said Elijah.
‘When do I get to see her?’ I said to Chauncey.
‘She’ll be out in a minute or two. Have you been around to my place at all?’
‘Yes. Couple of messages on your door.’ I gave them to him.
‘Customers wanting to know about their orders,’ he said. ‘I’ll get back to work soon.’
‘And Justine? What’s our next move with her?’
‘Rosalie says she can stop here indefinitely. She and Justine have become great chums.’
‘What about Rosalie’s husband? Does he mind Justine’s being here indefinitely?’
‘Lester Chun isn’t at home very much,’ said Chauncey. ‘He travels a lot.’
We sat there with our drinks not making much eye contact while I looked around the room.
‘You looking at me?’ said Elijah.
‘No,’ I said, ‘just the room.’ White walls and only one picture, a Chagall lithograph with an elongated female nude slanting to the right while being admired by a standing-on-air black cock with an inner man. Perhaps a full moon up above, perhaps an Eiffel tower down below, a man’s face at the base? Looking at the picture I began to hear klezmer music in my mind. I thought of Luise von Himmelbett whom I loved a long time ago. And was unfaithful to. And lost. Maybe loss is the main action of the universe and we’re here because the universe wants us to experience it. So why did I bring Justine Trimble out of my primordial soup? And why was I a little jealous of Chauncey Lim? I looked at the kelim under my feet and the pattern didn’t do anything, didn’t move forward and back like the optical-illusion bathroom tiles of my childhood.
‘Yo, Uncle Ish,’ said Justine as she came into the room. She looked great and gave me a hug and a kiss. Her breath stank and when she stepped back she looked a little wild, the way she did when she came home on the night she killed Rose Harland and had sex with two different men afterward. ‘Anything I can do for you?’ she said. ‘Chauncey won’t mind, will you, Chaunce?’
‘I don’t care a rat’s arse either way,’ said Chauncey.
‘Do it, Uncle Ish,’ said Elijah. ‘Do Justine.’
‘You don’t sound like yourself,’ I said to Chauncey. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘“The lotus springs from the mud.”’
‘What lotus are we talking about?’ I said.
‘I’ll let you know when I find out,’ said Chauncey.
‘I’m a Texas lotus that sprung out of the soup,’ said Justine. ‘How about it, Ish? You up for a little action?’
‘Pas ce soir, Josephine,’ I said. ‘Have a drink.’
‘Don’t mind if I do,’ she said. She got it down her neck pretty quickly. ‘Well, if nobody needs me here I might as well take a walk.’
‘Good idea,’ said Chauncey, ‘a little exercise always puts roses in your cheeks.’
‘I’m off then,’ she said. ‘See you both later.’
Chauncey and I drank more whisky. ‘What is it?’ I said after a while.
‘What is what?’ he said.
‘Come on, Chaunce,’ I said. ‘There’s something bothering you.’
‘I’ll tell you the truth,’ he said. ‘My falling in love with Justine was a delusion that came out of my wanting to take her away from you. That was how it started, then when we got into sharing her it seemed a really cool thing to do but now …’
‘Now what?’
‘I find Justine disgusting. The whole thing disgusts me. You got into it because Irving Goodman was obsessed with Justine from watching her old movies. You caught the obsession from him and you manufactured this creature that’s committed murder so that now we have to keep looking over our shoulders. How long will it go on?’
‘That’s a good question,’ I said. ‘I wish I knew the answer.’
27 Justine Two
30 January 2004. When I stuck my tongue in that guy’s mouth it made him crazy but he liked it and his johnson stood up like a man. But he didn’t want to go all the way and he started fighting me when I went for his neck. I was strong enough to take charge but I was feeling funny, I was having flashes of dark and wet and I wanted a strong male gripping me from behind while my eggs spilled out oh yes. Hold on, I said to myself, this is no place to spawn, you’re a movie star. Walk, don’t hop, you’re as human as anybody else. Or almost.
This was in a kind of alley full of little shops that sold books, maps, prints, posters, antiques and so on. People coming and going while I leaned against a wall for a little while till I got myself straight. That was Cecil Court. When I came out of there I was in a big bright street full of cars and people: St Martin’s Lane. There were cafés and coffee shops with people eating and drinking and I thought I might try that but I didn’t have any money. So I kept going until I passed a place where people were going in and lining up for tickets and then a store with opera music coming out of it. Kept going till I came to a corner and turned into a dark street where I saw a man coming toward me. I did my fainting thing and when he caught me I gave him a big wet kiss and it flew him to the moon. This time I kept my mind on my work and when I got to his neck I bit him good and started a nice flow. Oh boy there’s nothing like getting it the natural way, no tubes or technical stuff. I didn’t empty him, just had a nice top-up and he was feeling good about it the whole time so we had a little poontang party in a doorway. He wasn’t able to get out of a sitting position so I sat on his lap and that worked fine. His cap fell off and some people passing by dropped money in it. I also took a little from his wallet for expenses but I gave back the wallet and helped him zip up his pants, then I kissed him goodbye and left him sitting there smiling and shaking his head. When I was half-way back to the corner I heard him yell, ‘Oh my God!’ but I didn’t turn around. Maybe he was married and he felt guilty all of a sudden.