Arise and Walk by Barry Gifford

Author:Barry Gifford [Gifford, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780385314725
Google: rZx03Ao3YvIC
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1995-07-01T07:00:00+00:00

PRESTIDIGITATION

“You gonna be all right with these people, babe?”

Tombilena Gayoso fiercely contemplated her husband, Pace Ripley, the night before he was to ferry Presciencia Espanto, Tyrone Atrevido, and Cleon Tone across the Gulf and down to the Isle of Phantoms.

“That’s a question, okay,” said Pace. “Tyrone’s a stand-up cat, far’s I can tell. Other guy, I don’t know nothin’ about. Just that he’s a preacher of some kind. And this Espanto woman is some special creature, you know. We seen her on TV.”

“She’s the one worries me. You gonna be with ’em how long?”

“Eight days altogether. One and some down, five on the island, one and some back. I’m bringin’ lots of readin’ material.”

“Such as?”

“Thought I’d dip back into Conrad, the novels of his I haven’t read. Victory, maybe, and Nostromo.”

“Conrad who?”

“Joseph Conrad. Guy who wrote Heart of Darkness, was made into a great movie about Vietnam called Apocalypse Now”

“That the one where the good-lookin’ guy goes batshit in his shorts in a hotel room?”

“That’s it. And he wrote Lord Jim, too. That was also made into a movie.”

“Musta been before my time.”

“It was Conrad said, ‘Words, as is well known, are the great foe of reality.’ ”

“Not just words, babe. What’re the accommodations?”

“There’s some hotel they’re all stayin’ at. La Chute Celeste, I think, is the name. I’m stickin’ with the boat.”

“Jesus, honey, for eight days?”

“Oh, Tyrone’ll swing on by, hang out. I’ll be fine. Like I say, I plan on doin’ a lot of readin’.”

Tombilena walked over to the bedroom door and shut it. She lifted her dress, pulled down her panties, and dropped them on the floor.

“Better give you somethin’ you can show those island girls, then, they can incorporate into their culture.”

Pace grinned. “You mean you got a trick left you ain’t used yet on me?”

Tombilena lowered her thick black eyebrows and stepped toward her husband like Carmen enflamed. She tugged on Pace’s belt, lifted her right knee, and rubbed his crotch with it.

“I never needed no tricks to convince you of my sincerity,” she said. “It’s just some magic for the heart.”

“ ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ Jeremiah, 17:9.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Only truth there is is what happens. All that’s to go by.”

“Cut the shit, buddy, and kiss me. Truth is relative, of which I’m the closest to you.”

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