His mouth was quivering and his eyes were too...
His mouth was quivering and
his eyes were too big"I'm-"
I knew perfectly well what he was
Jack fumbled open the door, leaned out, and
vomitedI'd thought the smell of the jungle
(that's what it was once you were a mile past El
Palacio) was strong in the car, but what came
rolling in with the door open was ten times
headier, thick and green and viciously aliveYet
I did not hear a single bird calling in that mass
of junk foliageThe only sound was Jack losing
his breakfastAt last he collapsed back against
the seatHe thought I looked like a snowbird
again? That was sort of funny, because on that
early afternoon in mid-April, Jack Cantori was as
pale as March in MinnesotaInstead of twenty-one,
he looked a sickly forty-fiveIt must have chanel shopping bags been
937
the tuna salad, Ilse had said, but it hadn't been
the tunaSomething from the sea, all right, but
not the tuna
"I'm sorry," he said"I don't know what's wrong
with meThe smell, I guess - that rotten jungle
smell-" His chest hitched, he made a gurk sound
deep in his throat, and leaned out the door again
That time he missed his hold on the steering wheel,
and if I hadn't grabbed him by the collar and
yanked him back, he would have gone sprawling
face-first into his own whoop
He leaned back, eyes closed, face wet with sweat,
panting rapidly
"We better take him back to El Palacio," Wireman
said"I don't like to lose the time - hell, I
don't like to lose him - but this shit ain't
right
"As far as Perse's concerned, it's exactly right,"
I saidNow my miu miu bow bag bad leg was itching almost as much
as my armIt felt like electricity"It's her
little poison beltHow about you, Wireman? How's
your gut?"
938
"Fine, but my bad eye - the one that used to be
bad - is itching like a bastard, and my head's
kind of hummingProbably from that damn radio
"It's not the radioAnd the reason it's getting
to Jack and not to us is because we've beenSort of ironic, isn't
it?"
Behind the wheel, Jack groaned
"What can you do for him, muchacho? Anything?"
"I think so
I had my pads on my lap and my pencils and erasers
in a belt-packNow I flipped to the picture of
Jack and found one of my art-gum erasersI took
away his mouth and the lower arcs of his eyes, all
the way up to the cornersThe itching in my right
arm was gucci faux fiercer than ever, and I actually had no
doubt that what I planned to do would workI
summoned up the memory of Jack's smile in my
kitchen - the one I'd asked him to give me while
thinking of something particularly good - and drew
it quickly with my Midnight Blue pencilIt took
no more than thirty seconds (the eyes were really
the key, when it comes to smiles, they always are),
939
but those few lines changed the whole idea of Jack
Cantori's face
And I got something I hadn't expectedAs I drew,
I saw him kissing a girl in a bikiniI could feel her smooth skin, even a few
little grains of sand nestling in the hollow at
the small of her backI could smell her shampoo
and taste a faint ghost of salt on her lipsI
knew her name was Caitlin and he called gucci back pack her Kate
I put my pencil back in the little belt-pack and
zipped it closed"Jack?" Speaking quietlyHis
eyes were closed, and sweat still stood out on his
cheeks and forehead, but I thought his breathing
had slowed"How are you now? Any better?"
"Yeah," he said without opening his eyes"What'd
you do?"
"Well, as long as it's just the three of us, we
might as well call it what it is: magicA little
counterspell I tossed your way
Wireman reached over my shoulder, picked up the
pad, studied the picture, and nodded"I'm
beginning to believe she should have left you
alone, muchacho
940
I said, "It was my daughter she should have left
alone
x
We stayed where we were for five minutes, letting
Jack get his second windAt last he said he felt
able to go gucci silver bag