Remarkable Journey of Miss Tranby Quirke

Author:Elizabeth Ridley [Ridley, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gay & Lesbian, Gay, Fiction, Lesbian, Romance, General, Literary, Historical, Lesbianism, Visionary & Metaphysical
ISBN: 9781602821262
Google: IgmJPwAACAAJ
Amazon: 1602821267
Publisher: Bella Distribution
Published: 1996-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

*

Afterwards we sat quietly in my library, and she shone like a bright jewel among my many little things; my father’s books and wine decanters, the plump cushions, the Italian cut glass and the recently acquired Victrola. We whispered and laughed, and I smiled at the sight of her dove-white skin. We drank the spiced Malaysian coffees and lighted my most precious candles from the lands of Araby.

“Tell me a story. An adventure story,” Lysette asked, leaning back and letting her eyelids grow heavy.

“All right then,” I said, opening my mind to the catalog of travels that lay inside, coiled and patient, like cobras ready to rise and strike. “The year is 1512, and I am a captain in the army of Balboa. We march our men and our bloodhounds into the jungles of Panama, which are full of mynah birds, tree frogs, and screaming howler monkeys. At Balboa’s side rides the wardog Leoncico with his many battle scars, the dog who wears a solid gold collar and collects a soldier’s pay. After marching for seven weeks, we reach Comogran village, where the leader offers us a feast of smoked venison, and maize beer in gold-trimmed gourds, and he gives us each two native girls who bathe five times a day and rub their naked bodies with perfumed ointments.”

“That sounds lovely,” Lysette purred, patting her stomach with satisfaction.

“Oh, but it isn’t,” I said suddenly, surprising myself as a bolt of fear lit my mind. “It isn’t lovely at all. You see, Lysette, when we cross the Isthmus of Panama, we find a hidden village whose chief keeps a harem of handsome young men dressed in women’s garments. That butcher Balboa, horrified by what he considers this evidence of mortal sin, sets loose Leoncico and the other dogs, and no one can stop him; he does not call back his dogs until every boy is slaughtered; torn to pieces, torn to shreds. As I stride across that bloody battlefield where no battle has taken place, I weep bitter tears too weak to dilute the pools of blood, and I know then that inverted love exists everywhere, and is everywhere feared; in every place it lives it sits vulnerable, ripe for destruction. Here it is killed before I can protect it, struck down like those rows of tender, green-twig boys.”

Lysette looked at me and her eyes filled with tears. “All of them? All murdered?” she asked.

“Yes. Every last one.” I saw in my mind’s eye the mist of their last breaths, rising and settling like dew upon the grass.

“No, I don’t believe it,” Lysette insisted. “Surely one survived. Or two. Yes, two, who loved each other so very much. I’m certain they ran away, into the forest, deep into the trees, and they live there still.” She smiled bravely. “Just like you and I. We will escape. We will break free one day. Tell me something else,” she asked suddenly. “Tell me what it is like to go to France, to those special clubs where tall women meet to smoke cigarettes and speak of driving motorcars.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.