Nightshade by Williams Karen

Author:Williams, Karen [Williams, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Lesbian
ISBN: 9781883061081
Goodreads: 747194
Publisher: Rising Tide Press (AZ)
Published: 1996-01-01T13:00:00+00:00

17

The Harping Harpy

“Self-preservation,” Batilda was saying, “it’s like a shot of adrenaline in the butt. It’s amazing what you’re capable of doing when you know you’re gonna die.” She paused, gulping the tealike medicinal concoction she and Orielle had brewed, then smacked her lips. “I heard the car. I knew they’d be swinging back around to search my body, to find the bell—you don’t spend your life loving someone not to predict their behavior, you know?” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Dragged myself across the road, is what I did—rolled right down the river bank and lay by the water until I could move again. Like I said, these here wings took the impact—saved my spine—so I guess I should thank Alex and Benjamin.” She looked at Alex and Mary. “He gave ‘em to me, you know.” She sneered at Benjamin from across the table. Did you tell them, Birdwhistle? Huh? Did you tell them you cursed me with these goddamned freaking things?”

He looked imploringly at the women, as though they were members of a jury. “As I explained before, it was retaliatory. Why, if she hadn’t buried me I—”

“Get over it, Ben.” She waved a dismissive hand in his face. “Played a joke on him is all I did. But Mr. Anal-retentive never could take a joke.”

“Joke? Dear woman…! Can you imagine being buried alive?” He looked at Mary “Frightful, I tell you! The experience nearly killed me.”

Alex’s face worked itself into a contortion of disbelief. “They dug you up? You were actually… buried ?”

“Yes indeed!”

Batilda put her hands up to stop him. “Hold your horses, mister—let’s clear this up for the last time. I drugged him, see,” she said to the others, “gave him just enough to deaden his pulse and put him out for a few hours—long enough for him to wake up at his own wake.”

Batilda frowned, as though she had no real interest in rehashing the past. “Back in those days wakes were held in people’s houses—smack in the middle of the living room. And the body would stay there until the funeral.” She looked at him out of the corners of her beady black eyes and smiled crookedly. “I wanted him to wake up in the middle of the night with the candles burning and see how long it took before he realized he wasn’t in bed.”

Alex didn’t say a word. She just sat there, her forehead still crinkled, trying to decide if Batilda knew she was nuts.

“What’s wrong?” Batilda said defensively. “Why are you lookin’ at we? It’s not like I poisoned him, or anything. I used soporific chemicals—sleep inducers. How was I supposed to know the man would slip into a coma?” She shook her head, as if the whole thing had been Benjamin’s fault. “Who’d think a grown man his size would have such a weak system? The stuff had him out cold for…what was it, Birdwhistle…thirty-six hours?”

“And she allowed my family to bury me!” He put a hand to his heart.

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