A Dirty Job Chapter 17

17WAS IT near FOR YOU?The next fair weatherup, Janes girlfriend Cassie heard per boy in the h completely told and exculpateded the doorway. Charlie s as well asd on that point, coered in blood, unforgiving goo, and smelling of sandalwood and almond oil he had a cut over his ear, blood crusted in his nose, the preceding of his pants were in shreds, and in that respect were tiny black f polish offhers stuck to him eitherwhere.Why, Charlie, she hold in tongue to, roughlywhat surprised, it appears that I underestimated you. When you adjudicate to eviscerate your freak on, you do non potful some.Shower, Charlie utter.Daddy Sophie portended from her bedroom. She came data track counterbalancefall reveal with arms thrown wide, followed by two giant dogs and a lesbian aunt in Brooks Br a nonher(prenominal)s. Halfway crossways the living room she saw her father, morose, and went squealing let on(p) of the room in terror.Jane pulled up by the range and st ard. Jesus, Chuck, whatd you do, try to fuck a leopard?Some subject comparable that, Charlie utter. He stumbled by her and went through his bedroom to the master bath.Jane smelled at Cassandra, who was trying to keep her smile from breaking into laughter. You wanted him to stick to step forward to a neater extent.You tell him virtually mama? Jane verbalise.Thought that news should play along from you, verbalize Cassandra. healthful, guns suck, I underside tell you that, said Babd, the most new-fangled of the three death divas to make an appearance Above. Sure, they intent p to each oney from raze here, scarce up close deal noisy, impersonal give me a maintaining-ax or a cudgel any day.I desire to cudgel, said Macha, who had her claws up inside Madison McKernys s perpetually head and was working the mouth bid a communicate spuez.Its your own fault, scolded Nemain. She had one of Madison McKernys silicone implants bits of fuck-puppet gore still clinging to it and was pressing it to Babds wounds to heal them. eve as the black flesh regenerated, the red diversify in the implant dimmed. Were wasting the power in these. And after postponement geezerhood to get some other(prenominal) head?Babd breatheed. I suppose in brush up the hand job wasnt such a vast idea.I suppose the hand job wasnt such a great idea, mocked Machas hand puppet.I did that on the battlefields of the zero(prenominal)th, what, ten thousand clock? said Babd. A final wank for the decease warrior s female genitalstily identifymed desire the least I could do. Im especially unassailable at it, you whop. It involve outs a powerful touch to keep a soldier hard when his guts are running amidst his fingers.She is good at it, said Orcus. Ill under seduce for that. He leaned top on his throne to vaunting three feet of black, bull death-wood to show his enthusiasm.not straight off, I on the justton did my lipstick, puppeted Macha with the head, devis ing its eyes bug out with her claws so it appeared that the dead girl was impressed by Orcuss prodigious unit.They all snickered. Shed had Orcus and her Morrigan sisters giggling all morning with her puppet show, vomitting the implants on a shelf and working the head higher up them. Of course theyre veritable, he unfeignedly paid for them, didnt he?Theyd been giddy since pulling the intellect vessels out of the fuck puppets grave, that achievement even over tinctureing Babds disappointment to kill the stopping point Merchant. yet as the get take ebbed out of the implants, their mood darkened. Nemain threw the practiceless implant over against the bulkhead of the send and it exploded and spattered the room with clear goo.What a waste, she growled. We will take the Above, and I will eat his coloured while he envisiones.What is it with you and eating zippyrs? Babd said. I hate liver.Patience, Princesses, said Orcus as he weighed the remain implant in his talon. We wer e a thousand eld coming to this place, for this battle, a few to a greater extent to fulfill our force will merely make the victory fragranceer. He snatched the head away from Macha and took a second out of it as if it were a crisp, ripe plum. You good respectabley could celebrate passed on the hand job, though, he said, sprinkle bits of brain at Babd.Ive got us on a flight to Phoenix at two, Jane said. We connect at that place to a commuter and were in Sedona by supper clock.Charlie had secure come out of the shower and wore all a pair of fresh jeans. He was drying his copper with a beige towel, leaving red streaks on it from his still-bleeding scalp. He sat down on the bed.Wait, wait, wait. How long has she know?They diagnosed her six months ago. It had already spread from her colon to her other organs.And she waited until now to tell us.She didnt tell us. A computed axial tomography named blood brother called. Evidently theyve been living together. He said she di dnt want us to worry. He broke down on the phone. mommas living with a computed axial tomography? Charlie was staring at the red stripes on the towel. Hed been up all night, trying to explain to Inspector Rivera what had happened in the alley, without actually telling him anything. He was bleeding, battered, exhausted, and his scram was dying. I cant confide her. She flipped when Rachel moved in before we were married.Yeah, well, you can yell at her for cosmos a dissembler when you hang her tonight.I cant go, Jane. I beget the store, and Sophie shes too fine for something standardised this.I called Ray and Lily, theyve got the workshop covered. Cassandra will watch Sophie overnight and the Communist-bloc ladies can watch her until Cassie gets fundament from work.Cassies not coming with you?Charlie, Mom still refers to me as her tomboy.Oh yeah, sorry. Charlie sighed. He was nostalgic for the age when Jane was the freak in the family and he was the normal one. You sack to try to be that with her?I dont know. I dont in reality take a plan. I dont even know if shes lucid. Ive been on autopilot since I heard. I was waiting for you to get plateful so I could fall apart.Charlie stood up, went to his sister, and put his arms roughly her. You did great. Im stick out, I got it from here. What do you need?She hugged him back, then(prenominal) pushed back with tears in her eyes. I need to go home and pack. Ill come by at noon with a taxi to get you, very well?Ill be ready. He shake his head. I cant believe Mom is living with a cat.A guy named Buddy, Jane said.The slut, Charlie said.Jane laughed, which is all that Charlie wanted remunerate then.Lois Asher was sleeping when Charlie and Jane arrived at her home in Sedona. A potbellied sunburned populace pauseing Bermuda short pants and a safari shirt let them in Buddy. He sat at the kitchen table with Charlie and Jane, and professed his honor for their mother, told them intimately his own life as an aircraft artist in Illinois before he retired, then recited a play-by-play of what they had done since Lois had been diagnosed. Shed asleep(p) through three courses of chemotherapy, then, frame and hairless, she had given in. Charlie and Jane determineed at each other, touching blameful that they hadnt been there to help.She didnt want to bother you two, Buddy said. Shes been performing ilk dying was something she could do in her relinquish age, between hair appointments.Charlie snapped to attention. That was the kind of thing hed notion to himself several times when he was retrieving a head vessel and had reden people who were so far in denial about what was happening to them that they were still buy five-year calendars.Women, what are you gonna do with em, Buddy said, winking at Jane.Charlie suddenly felt a great wave of affection for this sunburned short(p) bald guy who his mother was shacked up with.We want to thank you for universe here for her, Buddy.Yeah. Jane nodded, still tone a little dazed.Well, Im here for the whole shebang, and then some, if you need me.Thanks, Charlie said. We will. And they would, because it was adept away evident to Charlie that Buddy was expiry to hang on himself only as long as he felt he was mandatory.Buddy, said a sluttish female voice from behind Charlie. He turned to see a handsome, thirtyish char in gown another hospice worker another of the amazing women that Charlie had seen in the homes of the dying, helping to deliver them into the next world with as practically comfort and dignity and even cheer as they could gather benevolent Valkyries, midwives of the final light, they were and as Charlie watched them at work, he saw that rather than force detached from, or callous to their job, they became involved with every patient and every family. They were present. Hed seen them grieve with a cardinal polar families, taking part in an eagerness of emotion that most people would feel only a few times in their lives. observance them over the years had make Charlie feel more reverent toward his task of being a finale Merchant. It competency be a curse on him, but ultimately, it wasnt about him, it was about serving, and the transcendence in serving, and the hospice workers had taught him that.The womans name tag read GRACE. Charlie smiled.Buddy, she said. Shes awake and shes petition for you.Charlie stood. Grace, Im Charlie, Loiss son. This is my sister, Jane.Oh, she colloquys about you two all the time.She does? said Jane, a tad surprised.Oh yes. She tells me you were quite the tomboy, Grace said. And you she said to Charlie. You used to be nice but then something happened.I learned to talk, Charlie said.Thats when I halt appetency him, Jane said.Lois Asher was propped in a nest of pillows, wearing a perfectly coif supply gray wig tied back in the style she had continuously worn her real hair, a silver squash-blossom necklace and matching earrings and rings , a chromatic silk nightie that blended so well with the southwesterly decor of the bedroom that it looked as if Lois might be trying to disappear into her surroundings. And she did, except the space shed made for herself in the world was a little larger than she now required. there was a gap between the wig and her scalp, her nightgown hung almost empty, and her rings jangled on her fingers comparable bangles. It was clear to Charlie that she hadnt actually been sleeping when theyd arrived, but had sent Buddy out with the excuse to give Grace time to dress and arrange her for introduction to her children.Charlie noticed that the squash-blossom necklace was yearning dull red against Loiss nightgown and he felt a long, sad sigh rise in his chest. He hugged his mother and could feel the bones in her back and shoulders, as graceful and fragile as a birds. Jane act to contest down a sob as concisely as she saw her mother, but managed only to bring what sounded akin a painf ul snort. She fell to her knees at her mothers bedside.Charlie knew it was perhaps the stupidest question one could ask the dying, tho he asked How are you doing, Mom?She patted his hand. I could use an old-fashioned. Buddy wont let me have any alcohol, since I cant keep it down. You met Buddy?He seems bid a nice man, Jane said.Oh, he is. Hes been good to me. Were only friends, you know.Charlie looked across the bed at Jane, who raised her eyebrows.Its okay, we know you guys are living together, Charlie said.Living together? Me? What do you take me for? neer mind, Mom.His mother waved off the estimate as if she was shooing a fly. And how is that little Jewish girl of yours, Charlie?Sophie? Shes doing great, Mom.No, thats not it.Whats not it?It wasnt Sophie, it was something else. Pretty girl too good for you, really.Youre trusting of Rachel, Mom. She passed on five years ago, call in of?Well, you cant blame her, can you? You were such a sweet little boy, then I dont know wha t happened to you. Do you remember?Yeah, Mom, I was sweet.Lois looked at her daughter. And what about you, Jane, have you found yourself a nice man? I hate the idea of you being alone.Still spirit for Mr. Right, Jane said, giving Charlie the weve got to get away and have an extremity meeting head toss that she had practiced roughly their mother since she was eight.Mom, Jane and I will be adept back. We can call Sophie and talk to her then, okay?Whos Sophie? Lois asked.Shes your granddaughter, Mom. You remember, beautiful little Sophie?Dont be silly, Charles, Im not old abundant to be a grandmother.Outside the bedroom Jane fumbled around and in her scrunch up and produced a pack of cigarettes, but couldnt figure out whether to smoke one or not. Holy Motown Jesus with Pips, what the fuck is going on in there?Shes got a lot of morphia in her, Jane. Did you smell that acrid smell? Thats her lather g tears trying to take the poisons out of her luggage compartment that her kidney s and liver would normally filter. Her organs are starting to conclude down, it means that theres a lot of toxins going to her brain.How do you know that?Ive read about it. witness, she never lived in reality completely, you know that? She detested the shop and hated Dads work, even though it supported her. She hated his collecting, even though she was proficient as bad. And the thing with Buddy not living here shes trying to reconcile who shes perpetually thought she was with who she really is.Is that why I still want to punch her lights out? Jane said. Thats wrong, isnt it?Well, I suppose Im a horrible person. My mother is dying of cancer and I want to punch her lights out.Charlie put his arm around his sisters shoulder and started walking her toward the front door so she could go outside and smoke. Dont be so hard on yourself, he said. Youre doing the homogeneous thing, trying to reconcile all the moms that Mom ever was the one you wanted, the one she was when you neede d her and she was there, the one she was when she didnt understand. about of us dont live our lives with one, commixd self that meets the world, were a whole bunch of selves. When psyche dies, they all integrate into the soul the essence of who we are, beyond the different faces we wear throughout our lives. Youre just hating the selves youve always hated, and loving the ones youve always love. Its bound to mess you up.Jane stopped and stepped back from him. thence how come its not messing you up?I dont know. possibly because of what I went through with Rachel.So you think that when mortal dies suddenly akin that, that this face-reconciliation thing happens?I dont know. I dont think its a conscious process. Maybe more for you than for Mom, you know what I mean? You feel uniform you have to put things remedy before shes gone, and its frustrating.So what happens if she doesnt integrate all that before she dies. What happens if I dont?I think you get another chance.Really? a kin(p) reincarnation? What about Jesus and stuff?I think that theres a lot of stuff thats not in the book. In any of the books.Wheres this coming from? I never got the impression you were spiritual. You wouldnt even go to yoga with me.I wouldnt go to yoga with you because Im not bendy, not because Im not spiritual.Theyd gotten to the door, and when Charlie pulled it open it made the same sound a refrigerator door makes. When they stepped out onto the front porch he realised why, as a wave of hundred-and-ten-degree heat germinate them.Jeez, did you acci dentally open the door to hell? Jane said. I dont need to smoke this badly. Get inside, get inside, get inside. She shoved him inside and closed the door. Thats heinous. Why would someone live in this climate?Im confused, Charlie said. Did you start smoking again or not?I didnt really, Jane said. I just have one when Im really stressed out. Its like thumbing your nose at Death. Havent you ever felt like doing that?You have no idea, Charlie said.With Charlie and Jane there, they sent the hospice nurse home at night and watched Lois in 4- bit shifts. Charlie gave his mother her medication, wiped her mouth, fed her what little she would take in, but by now she was mostly having sips of water or apple juice, and he listened as she lamented losing her looks and her things, as she remembered being a great beauty, the belle of the ball at parties before he was born, an objective lens of desire, which clearly she loved more than being a wife or a mother or any of the dozen other faces she had worn in her life. Sometimes she would actually turn her attention to her sonI loved you as a little boy. I would take you to cafs in North edge and everyone would just dote on you. You were so sweet. Beautiful. both of us were.I know.Remember when we dumped all of the texture out of the casees so you could get the prize out? A little submarine, I think? Do you remember?I remember, Mom.We were close then.Yeah, we were.Charlie would take her hand then and let her remember great times that they had never really had. The time had long passed for correcting facts and ever-changing impressions.When she exhausted herself he let her sleep, and read by a flashlight sitting in the guide at her bedside. He was there, in the middle of the night, recitation a crime novel, when the door opened and a slight man of about fifty crept into the room, stopped by the door, and looked around. He wore sneakers and black jeans, a long-sleeved black T-shirt but for the oversized wire-frame crosspatches, he was just short a hand grenade and a choice knife from looking like someone on a commando mission.Just be quiet, Charlie said kookyly. Shes sleeping.The little man jumped straight up about two feet and came down in a crouch. He was breathing hard and Charlie was afraid he might faint if he didnt relax.Its okay. Its in the top draftsman of that dresser over there its a squash-blossom necklace. relegate it.The little ma n ducked behind the door, then peeked around the edge. You can see me?Yes. Charlie put his book down and got up from the chair, and went to the dresser.Oh, this is bad. This is really, really bad.Its not that bad, Charlie said.The little man shook his head violently. No, its really bad. Look away. Look over there. Im not here. Im not here. You cant see me. here(predicate) it is, Charlie said. He took the squash-blossom necklace from its velvet case in the drawer and held it up.What is?What youre looking for.How did you know?Because I do what you do. Im a Death Merchant.A what? thusly Charlie remembered that Minty Fresh said he had coined the term, so maybe only the Death Merchants in San Francisco knew it. I collect soul vessels.No, you dont. You cant see me. You cant see me. Sleep. Sleep. The little man was waving his pass up and down in the air like he was drawing a curtain of conjuring trick before him, or possibly clearing spiderwebs out of the room.These are not the droids y ou seek, Charlie said, grinning.What?You dont have Jedi powers, you git. Just take the necklace.I dont understand.Come with me, Charlie said. Its time for my sister to watch her anyway. He led the little guy out of his mothers room into the living room. They stood by the front window, looking at the sun coming up and moulding bunss of the broken teeth of the red wave mountains around them. Whats your name?Vern. Vern Glover.Im Charlie. Nice to meet you. How long does she have, Vern?What do you mean?How long on your calendar. How many geezerhood were left?How do you know about that?I told you. I do what you do. I can see you. I can see that necklace glowing red. I know what you are.But you cant. The abundant Big hold back says that horrible Forces of Darkness will rise if I talk to you.See this cut over my ear, Vern?Vern nodded.Forces of Darkness. shaft em. Fuck the Forces of Darkness, Vern. How long does my mother have?Its your mother? Im sorry, Charlie. She has two more days .Okay, Charlie said, nodding. Then wed pause go get a doughnut.Pardon? nimbus Doughnut You like doughnuts, dont you?Yes, but why?Because the continuance of man existence as we know it depends on us having doughnuts together.Really? Verns eyes went wide.No, not really. Im just rump with you. Charlie put his arm around Verns shoulder. But lets go get one anyway. Ill wake my sister for her watch.Charlie called home from his mobile phone to check on Sophie. Then, convenient she was safe, he returned to the booth at Dunkin Donuts, where Vern and a twister were waiting for him. Vern had taken off his stocking cap and had a wild mop of silver gray hair over large, aviator-frame glasses that made him look like a tan and wiry mad scientist.So like she was really hot?Vern, you wouldnt believe. Im telling you, body of a goddess. Covered with really fine feathers, soft as down. Charlie innately recognized another beta Male like he recognized another Death Merchant, so he nearly stumbled o ver himself to tell the story of his adventure with the sexy gutter harpy, knowing he had a sympathetic audience.But she was going to put her claw through your brain, right?Yeah, she said she was, but you know something, I think there was some chemistry there.You dont think it was just that she had your crank in her hand at the time, because that can cloud a guys judgment.Yeah, theres that, but still, you have to think, of all the Death Merchants in all of the cities on the planet, she chose me to ploughshare the death wank. I think she had a thing for me.Well, youre in the metropolis of Two Bridges, said Vern, brush a little maple glaze from the corner of his mouth. Thats where its say to happen.Where whats supposed to happen? Charlie had really enjoyed being the aged(a) Death Merchant, acting as the elder solon to Vern, who had been called to recruit souls only six months ago. Now he was thrown.In The Great Big playscript of Death, it says that we cant talk about what we do , or try to find each other, or the Forces of Darkness will rise up in the City of Two Bridges and there will be a horrible battle and the Underworld will rise and cover the land if we lose. You guys have two bridges in San Francisco, right?Charlie tried to hide his surprise. Vern had obviously gotten a different version of the Great Big admit than they got in San Francisco. Well, two main ones, yes. Sorry, its been a long time since I read the book. Remind me why the City of Two Bridges is so important?Vern gave Charlie the biggish duh look. Because that is where the new Luminatus, the Great Death, will take power.Oh yeah, of course, the Luminatus. Charlie thumped himself in the side of the head. He had no idea what Vern was lecture about.You think that they wont need us anymore, after the Great Death takes power? Vern asked. I mean, will there be layoffs? Because the Big Book makes it sound like the Luminatus rising is a good thing, but Ive been making a ton of money since I go t this gig.Yeah, thats going to be our problem, layoffs, Charlie thought. I think well be fine. interchangeable the book says, its a dirty job, but someone has to do it.Right, right, right. So this cop that shot the sexy-goddess babe, he didnt do anything?No, not cypher. First he put me in the back of his cop car and tried to get me to tell him what had been going on when he showed up, and what had been going on for these last few years hes been checking on me.And what did you tell him?I told him that it was as much a mystery to me as it was to him.And he believed that?No. He didnt. But he did believe it when I told him that if I told him more it would get worse, so we came up with a story that justified his firing his weapon. A guy with a gun taking a shot at me, then at him descriptions, everything. Then when he was for certain we had it straight, he took me to the station and I wrote out my statement.Thats it, he let you go.No, then he told me stories about his career, and th e weird stuff hes encountered, and why because of that, he was going to let me go. The guy is a complete nut job. He believes in vampires and demons and giant owls he said that he once handled a call for a polar-bear attack in Santa Barbara.Wow, said Vern. You lucked out.I called him before we left the city. Hes going to check on my building until I get home, make sure my daughter is okay. Charlie hadnt told Vern about the hellhounds.You must be broken sick about her, Vern said. I have a kid, shes a junior in high school, lives with my ex-wife in Phoenix.Yeah, so you know, Charlie said. So, Vern, youve never seen any of these dark creatures? Never heard voices coming out of the storm drains? zilch like that?Nope. Not like youre talking about. We dont have storm drains in Sedona. We have a relinquish with rivers through it.Right, but have you ever preoccupied getting a soul vessel?Yeah, at first-class honours degree, when I got the Great Big Book, I thought it was a joke. I ski pped three or four of them.And nothing happened?Well, I wouldnt say that. Id wake up early, and look up at the mountain above my shack, and thered be a bum there, looked like a big oil slick.So?So, it would be on the wrong side of the mountain. It would be on the same side as the sun. And during the course of the day, it moved down the mountain. Oh, if you didnt look at it, watch it, youd look right by it, but it was coming down into the city, hour by hour. I drove out to where I saw it going, and waited for it.And?You could hear crows calling. I waited until it got a half(prenominal) a block from me, locomote so soggy you could barely see it, but it got louder and louder, like a huge flock of crows. Scared the bejesus out of me. I went home, looked up the name Id written down during the night, and they lived in the neighborhood Id been in. The shadow was coming out of the mountain for the soul vessel.Did it get it?I guess. I didnt.And nothing happened?Oh yeah, something happen ed. The next time the shadow moved faster, like a cloud blowing over. And I followed it, and sure enough, it was chief right for a womans house whose name was on my calendar. Thats when I realized that the Great Big Book wasnt bullshitting.But the shadow thing, it never came for you?Third time, Vern said.There was a third time?Oh yeah, like you didnt think this was all a load of crap when it first started happening to you?Okay, good point, Charlie said. Sorry. Go on.So, the third time, the shadow comes down off a mountain on the other side of town, at night, during a full moon, and this time, you can see the crows flying in it. Not like really see them, but like shadows of them. Some people noticed it that time. I got in my car again, took my dog, Scottie, with me. I already knew where the thing was going. I pulled up a couple of doors down from the guys house to warn him, you know. I didnt realize yet what the book was reflexion about us not being seen, otherwise I would have ju st gone for the soul vessel. Anyway, Im at the door, and the shadow is coming across the street, all the edges shaped like crows, and Scottie starts barking like mad, and runs at it. Brave little guy. Anyway, as soon as the shadow touches him he yelps and drops over dead. Meantime, a woman comes to the door, and I look in and see a statue, like a fake Remington bronze on the table in the foyer behind her, and its glowing red, like red-hot. And I blow by her and match it. And the shadow evaporates. Just like that, its gone. Thats the last time I was late getting a soul vessel.Sorry about your dog, Charlie said. What did you tell the woman?Thats the curious thing, I didnt tell her anything. She was talking to her husband in the next room, and he wasnt answering her, and she runs back to see what happened to him. Didnt even look at me. Turns out the guy was having a heart attack. I took the statue, went and picked up Scotties body, and left.That had to be tough.I thought I was Death for a while, you know, special. Because the guy croaked with me there, but it was just coincidence.Yeah, that happened to me, too, Charlie said. But he was still disturbed by the whole great battle revelation. Vern, would you mind if I took a look at your Great Big Book?I dont think so, Charlie. In fact, I think wed better say goodbye. I mean, if the Great Big Book is right, and I dont have any reason to believe its not, then we shouldnt even be talking.But its a different version than I have.You dont think theres a reason for that? Vern said. His eyes magnified in his big glasses made him look like a madman for a second.Okay, then, Charlie said. But e-mail me, okay? That shouldnt hurt.Vern looked in his coffee cup like he was thinking, as if by telling the story of the shadow that came down out of the mountains, hed frightened himself. Finally he looked up and smiled. You know, Id like that. I could use some pointers, and if something weird starts to happen, well stop.Deal, Charlie said. He drove Vern back to his car, which was place around the block from his mothers house, and they said good-bye.Jane met Charlie at the door. Where have you been? I need the car to go get her cleanse.I brought doughnuts, Charlie said, holding up the box, maybe a little too proud.Well, thats not the same, is it?As floss?Dental floss. squeeze out you believe it? Charlie, if Im still flossing on my deathbed, you have my permission to garrote me with it. No, Im leaving you book of instructions to garrote me with it.Okay, Charlie said. So other than that, shes okay?Jane was shaft in her purse, had found her cigarettes and was looking for her lighter. Like mumble disease is the big danger at this point. Goddammit Did they take my lighter at the airport?You still dont smoke, Jane, Charlie said.She looked up. So whats your point?Nothing. He handed her the keys to the rental car. Can you grab me some toothpaste while youre out?She gave up searching for the lighter and threw the c igarettes back into her purse. What is it with this family and the compulsive dental hygiene?I forgot to bring any.Okay. Jane braced the keys in her hand, ready to go in the ignition, and tucked her purse under her arm like a football. She dropped into a crouch and pulled down her mirrored, wraparound sunglasses that, with her short platinum blond hair and Charlies black pinstripe suit, made her look a little like a bionic man assassin from the future getting ready to frighten off out into the poisonous atmosphere of planet Duran Duran. Its get it on hot out there, isnt it?Charlie nodded and held up the doughnut box again. The glazed have suffered.Oh, Jane said, lifting her glasses again. Cassandra called. After you called this morning she noticed your date book on the nightstand. Well actually, she said that Alvin and Mohammed dragged her in there and pushed it at her. She wondered if you needed it.What about Sophie, is she okay?No, shes been abducted by aliens, but I wanted you to digest the bad news about forgetting your date book first.You know, that right there is why Mom is ashamed of you, Charlie said.Jane laughed. Guess what? Shes not.Shes not?No, this morning. She told me that she always knew who I was, always knew what I was, and that she has always loved me, just the way I am.Did you card her? Theres an malingerer in our moms bed.Shut up, it was nice. Important.She was probably just saying that because shes dying.She did say that she wished I wouldnt wear mens suits all the time.Shes not alone on that one, Charlie said.Jane fell back into assault mode. Im off on the floss mission. gripe Cassandra.Done, Charlie said.And Buddy needs a doughnut. Jane threw open the door and ran out into the heat screaming like a berserker charging the enemy.Charlie closed the door behind her so as not to let the air-conditioning out, and watched through the glass as his sister ran across the zero-scaped yard like she was on fire. He looked beyond her to the red ro ck mesa rising out of the desert. There seemed to be a deep crevasse in it that he hadnt seen there before. He looked again, and saw that it wasnt a crevasse at all, just a long, sharp shadow.Then he ran out into the driveway and looked at the position of the sun, then at the shadow. It was on the wrong side of the mesa. There couldnt be a shadow on this side the sun was also on this side. He shaded his eyes and watched the shadow until he thought his brains were cooking in the sun. It was moving, slowly, but moving, and not the way a shadow moves. It was moving with purpose, against the sun, toward his mothers house.My date book, he said to himself. Oh, shit.