Woo Woo by Ella Baxter

Author:Ella Baxter [Ella Baxter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2024-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

With the Last Vibrations of Her Jangled Nerves

—Gustave Flaubert, 1857

Thursday night. Four days out from her exhibition. Sabine sat in an armchair in her living room, exhausted from learning to defend herself. She rested her legs on the footstool, opposite the ghost of Carolee Schneemann, who lounged on the sofa. The living room was heaving with snakes, each of them with a slightly differently shaped head. Carolee wore pedal pushers and a pair of orthopaedic sandals, and on her lap was a bronze snake curled into a knot. A multitude of earth-toned serpents slithered from one piece of furniture to the next. They were under the curtains on the north-facing window, on the kitchen countertop, curled around the bin. All she saw were tails and heads entering or exiting behind something else. The whole house smelled like piss and mice and hay.

‘This is not my snake, but I assume it can untangle itself,’ said Carolee.

‘Do you ever cage them?’ Sabine asked.

‘What would be the point? They’re fine like this,’ said Carolee.

‘Is the one in your lap aggressive?’ said Sabine.

‘I wouldn’t know, it doesn’t speak to me,’ said Carolee.

‘Why are there so many?’ said Sabine. In the kitchen, a snake travelled along a shelf, its tail slapping across the top of each of the mixing bowls as it went.

‘I love the waves of their body and how muscular they are. You can go to a bodybuilding gym and not see muscles like this,’ said Carolee. She pointed out different breeds around the room. ‘Double-headed python. Zebra jungle jag. Nitty-bug zorbit.’

‘I can, in a way, see the appeal. Their sinewy bodies, et cetera,’ said Sabine.

Carolee held the bronze snake tenderly, turning it from side to side, admiring it. The snake lengthened itself out, then flicked its tongue, tasting its environment.

‘This snake wants a little pinky,’ said Carolee.

‘Don’t feed it here,’ said Sabine.

‘He’s saying, Let me eat a frozen mouse, Mummy,’ said Carolee.

‘Don’t,’ said Sabine.

‘I promise you, there’ll be no mess,’ said Carolee.

‘Are you cold? Why is the heating off?’ said Sabine.

‘Do you know about Nure-onna? It’s a Japanese legend, a woman with the body of a snake and a normal human head. She kills people but she’s very, very clever. She carries a small bundle with her that looks like a baby, to lure people closer to her so she can eat them. Like I said, she’s clever, but she’s also sad. Sometimes this can be a terrible mix in a woman. Anyway, when their environment is this cold, I am warm, so they snuggle close to me.’ Carolee lifted her shirt to show two snakes curled into her abdomen.

‘You’ll take them all with you when you go, won’t you?’ said Sabine.

‘Pretty much,’ said Carolee.

‘I can’t stop thinking about the Rembrandt Man,’ said Sabine.

‘And he can’t stop thinking about you,’ said Carolee.

‘I keep thinking about him breaking in, and what he might do once he is inside,’ said Sabine.

‘That’s not entirely true, though, is it?’ Carolee tossed the snake aside and sat forward.

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