Page 81
“They are. Are you ready?”
“Sure. What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t have a real medical examining table, so the conference table in the corner will have to do. Carlos, will you help me with it?”
“Sure.”
As they hustle the table to the middle of the cramped room Ray says, “Stark, if we’re going to do this right—and I hope you aren’t the shy type—I’m going to need you to strip.”
Carlos laughs.
“Do you know how many times he’s come into the bar covered in blood? Shy he isn’t.”
“That’s a relief.”
While they set up the table, I take off my clothes and toss them into a relatively uncluttered area below something that looks like a whiskey still with TV rabbit ears on top.
As Ray drapes a clean sheet across the table I say, “Can I help with anything?”
“Nope. We’re just about ready for you to hop on.”
Carlos glances over at me while Ray makes final adjustments to the table. The look on Carlos’s face isn’t reassuring.
“What the fuck have you been doing, man?” he says.
My first thought is that he’s never had a really good look at my Kissi arm. Or seen how scarred I really am. There isn’t much more than an inch or two of my body that doesn’t have some kind of mark on it. Then I look down at myself and see it’s so much worse. The bruises I’d hoped would be fading by now are dark and livid. Some are stiff, like hematomas. Others are pulpy soft.
“Shit.”
“Shit is right,” says Carlos.
Ray looks over to see what Carlos is talking about. He has good control of his face. He’s done this before. Ray never looks shocked, but the momentary spike in his heartbeat and his pupils dilating tell me all I need to know.
“Let’s get you on the table now,” he says. “Lie down faceup.”
I climb onto the table and do what he says. Carlos keeps staring.
“Ray has a better bedside manner than you,” I tell him.
“I’m sorry,” Carlos says. “All those times I made fun of you. I didn’t know how fucked up you really were.”
“Don’t worry about it. The bruises are mostly from the last couple of days.”
“I’m not talking about the bruises.”
“The scars are old. They help keep me alive. And they remind me of where I came from.”
“Remind me to never go there.”
“I wouldn’t recommend it. Except for the Aqua Regia and Maledictions.”
“What are Maledictions?” says Ray.
“The kind of cigarettes we smoked in Hell.”
He looks at me.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81 (Reading here)
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182