Ambient by Jack Womack

barricades,
but our line was short; we reached the cashier in less than half an
hour. The market had Vidiac; a bank of monitors hung above the
checkout aisles, but I didn't watch. I thumbed papers in the nearby
racks. There was a useful article detailing how vampires might
be distinguished, and thus avoided, in the work place; another
entitled IS YOUR SPOUSE A REINCARNATED SEX KILLER?
with the True Story of The Hackensack Ripper As Told By His
Ex-Wife From Beyond The Grave. Tiempo's cover article concerned the coming food explosion-sounded unpleasant-and,
past the features, several news photos-thus allowable-showed
dead young women decked in lingerie.
    "Oneseen, allseen," said Enid, glancing over my shoulder.
"Man's pride dulls all." She tossed back the copy of McCall's
she'd been looking over; FORTY THINGS TO DO WITH MACARONI was the lead article.
    Once we were rung Enid laid out two dollars; we stuffed the
goods into the bags we'd brought. Our trip home was calm; we
didn't talk. My mind drifted off to be with Avalon, and I counted
the minutes till I'd see her again.
    "No visitors?" I asked Lester, when we returned.
    "No blood," he said, extending one arm, balancing with the
other.
    "I didn't ask that," I said. "You'd have licked it up, anyway. " Lester smiled, and bounced down the stairs. We went
inside.
    I didn't have to leave just yet-it was only past noon-and so
I soaked my apples and oranges, having plucked them from Enid's head, carefully dropping the fruit into the sink one piece at a
time, so as not to splash out overmuch water. Enid turned suddenly, as if she'd been slapped.
    "Memory returns," she said. "Tarry a mo. I've an add to your
repertoire. "

    She ran back into the bedroom. My refrigerator consoled me.
    ---door ajar. Please shut. Door-"
    I took out the apples and oranges, dried them, and slipped
them into my Krylar coat's pocket. Enid returned, carrying a new
button-push chainsaw that was no more than a foot and a half
long.
    "I'm not going dancing," I said.
    "Court and tease, then," she said. "On off's chance."
    "It's rather puny, isn't it?"
    "But marvel." She held the chainsaw away from us, turning
it on. As she pushed the button the saw shot outward, tripling its
length as it roared away.
    "Cunning," I said, impressed. "A bit overmuch for what I
expect. "
    "Then in event your expectation adjusts. Carry, for me if you
will."
    "What if it goes off accidentally?" I asked. "I could lose
something. "
    "As you could if you don't tote it," she said. "The safety's
on, till yours goes off."
    "Where'd you get it?" I asked, noting the file marks obliterating the serial plate.
    "A friend whose fingers burned with it. Encloak it in your
wrap. "
    "All right. Gracias, Enid."
    "Por mivida," she said, slipping it into one of my long coat's
inner pockets. "Seamus?"
    "Yes?"
    "I spec we'll glimpse sooner than you see," she said,
"But-"
    "I'll be back in a couple of months."
    "If but in other shape we ever clasp again," she said, "My
blood beats your heart allafter, everafter, till time's lovely end.
Take as you will. "

    She kissed me; her spikes scratched my forehead. I didn't bleed
much.
    "Too early on the light aroused," she said. "Left me drumbling poor and undermeal. I'm to bed and bideaway till eve crawls
up dark. "
    "Take care."
    She walked back into the bedroom, shedding her clothes as she
went. Before she went in she bent over to pick up one of her
bottles. I smiled as I looked at her massive gray flanks, thinking
of Lucy, the late rhinoceros. She'd be fine in my absence, I knew,
and so I worried about her not at all. Only Enid had kept me
straight and narrow, made me continue school, found the funds
that allowed me to do so, stood by me at every time of pain. But
her life was hers; mine was mine.
    As I went downstairs I readied myself; I walked out, heading
over to Third Avenue. Jimmy always picked me up on the north
side of the 14th Street barricade, before we cruised