Driftglass (Jerry eBooks) by Samuel R. Delany

Author:Samuel R. Delany [Delany, Samuel R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jerry eBooks
Published: 2015-05-17T04:00:00+00:00

II

The dawning sky (working top to bottom):

Sable, azure, gules—

—mountains dexter, sinister a hurst of oak, lots of pines, a few maples. The Gila Monster parked itself astride a foamy brook below a waterfall. I went outside on the balcony and got showered as leaves sprinkled the stainless flank of our great striding beast.

“Hello? Hey, hello!”

“Hi.” I waved toward where she was climbing down the—whoops! into the water to her knee. She squealed, climbed back up the rock, and looked embarrassed.

“Cadet Suyaki?”

“Eh . . . yes, sir.” She tried to rub her leg dry. Canadian streams at dawn are cold.

I took off my shirt, made a ball, and flung it to her. “Section-devil Jones.” She caught it. “Blacky’ll do. We’re pretty informal around here.”

“Oh . . . thank you.” She lifted her silver legging, removed her boot to dry a very pretty ankle.

I gave the stairway a kick.

Clank-chchchchchc-thud!

The steps unfolded, and the metal feet stamped into pine needles. I went down to the bank.

“Waiting long?”

She grinned. “Oh, I just got here.”

And beyond the rocks there was a corroborative roar and snapping; a helicopter swung up through the trees.

Cadet Suyaki stood quickly and waved.

Somebody in the cockpit waved back till copper glare wiped him out.

“We saw you getting parked—” She looked down the length of Gila Monster.

I have said, or have I?

Cross an armadillo with a football field. Nurse the offspring on a motherly tank. By puberty: one Gila Monster.

“I’ll be working under you?”

“Myself and Mabel Whyman.”

She looked at me questioningly.

“Section-Devil Whyman—Mabel—is really in charge. I was just promoted from line-demon yesterday.”

“Oh. Congratulations!”

“Hey, Blacky! Is that my new roommate?”

“That,” I pointed at Scott, all freckled and golden, leaning over the rail, “is your pardner. You’ll be rooming together.”

Scott came down the steps, barefoot, denims torn off mid-thigh, tool belt full of clippers, meters, and insulation spools.

“Susan Suyaki,” I announced, “Scott Mackelway.”

She extended her hand. “I’m glad to meet—”

Scott put a big hand on each of little Miss Suyaki’s shoulders. “So am I, honey. So am I.”

“We’ll be working very close together, won’t we?” asked Susan brightly. “I like that!” She squeezed one of his forearms. “Oh, I think this’ll work out very well.”

“Sure it will,” Scott said. “I’m . . .” Then I saw an open space on his ear pinken. “I sure hope it does.”

“You two demons get over to the chameleon nest!”

Scott, holding Sue’s hand, pointed up to the balcony. “That’s Mabel. Hey, boss! We going any place I gotta put my shoes on?”

“Just scouting. Get going.”

“We keep the chameleon over the port tread.” Scott led Sue down the man-high links of the Monster’s chain drive.

Thought: some twenty-four hours by, if Mabel yelled, “You two demons . . .” The two demons would have been Scott and me.

She came, all silver, down the steps.

“You smile before the joust, Britomart?”

“Blacky, I’m turning into a dirty old woman.” At the bottom step, she laid her forefinger on my chest, drew it slowly down my stomach and finally hooked my belt. “You’re beautiful. And I’m not smiling, I’m leering.

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