the things crested a grassy rise and spun free in the air for a moment Rivas thought he saw a faint rosy shadow or stain on one of them… but the old man was speaking again and Rivas had to turn and face him.
“My name’s Lollypop,” the old man said.
Given ten tries, thought Rivas, I think I might have guessed that. “I’m Pogo Possum,” he said on the spur of the moment, it being a pretty safe bet that neither of these fellows would be well read. “You been in this… trade long?”
“Since the sixth year of the last Ace, Nigel and me both. We were around when young Jaybush first appeared and started recruiting followers. Hell, I used to live in Irvine, in a house that’s behind the white walls today—or was, I guess, until the big explosion in the last year of that Ace.”
Rivas nodded. The rumors of the midnight flash and deafening roar behind the white walls—and speculations that Jaybush himself had died in the blast, for he subsequently went into cloistered seclusion in the Holy City—had shaken the whole structure of the faith, and Rivas, at the age of twenty-one, had taken advantage of the confusion and quietly left the Jaybirds and fled to Venice.
“Did you ever see Norton Jaybush?” Rivas asked.
“Oh hell yes, in those days before he retired into his damned city he was everywhere.” Lollypop shook his head wonderingly. “Can’t really blame people for following him, you know? That man was hard to beat. Still is, I suppose, just doesn’t have to prove it anymore. Yeah, I seen him make a dead man get up and walk around and talk to his family—and I mean dead, this guy was bloated up and stinking.”
“Trees bent over when he walked by, like bowing,” said Nigel. “We seen it.”
“It wasn’t any big thing at all for a hundred birds at once to circle around over his head neat as the rim of a dish, like a big damn whirling halo, and not a peep out of one of ’em.”
My rival for Uri’s devotion, thought Rivas uneasily. And one time father figure of my own, too; though luckily only through the jaybushes, the surrogates, the representatives of him. I probably wouldn’t have had the—the what? Strength of character? Certainty of my identity?—to leave the faith if I’d been dealing with Mister Messiah Jaybush himself. And I’d never have dared to disobey him so directly by going straight to Venice as soon as I ditched the faith. Jaybush had nothing but condemnations for that sinful place.
He was startled then by a quick, rhythmic thumping from inside the wagon under him, and it wasn’t until Nigel, at the rear of the roof, pounded his fist on the wood and yelled, “Save it, slut—they gonna teach you a new dance,” that Rivas realized what the noise had been. One of the girls was evidently having doubts, losing a little of her confidence that the world was in Jaybush’s hands and all was well; for the peculiar running-in-place, arm-waving activity known as Sanctified Dancing was the recommended means to clear the mind of uncomfortable thoughts. Like speaking in tongues, it had never held any attraction for Rivas.
He knew it couldn’t be Uri—this would be only her third day in the faith, and she wouldn’t have been taught Sanctified Dancing yet—but if she actually was in this wagon he wondered what she was making of the spectacle. Often, he recalled, it was kind of scary when someone erupted into it, stamping and waving and gasping, eyes generally screwed tight shut, and it had to be scarier still when it started happening in a dim confinement and you didn’t even know what it was.
He remembered being with her once when her cat dragged itself into the yard, its hind legs useless because of a broken back. Rivas and Uri had been breathlessly rolling around in the grass behind a toolshed in the Barrows yard, and when Uri leaped up and ran to the struggling cat, her eyes were still a little unfocused, her lips swollen—and then when she’d tried to pick it up, the cat
“My name’s Lollypop,” the old man said.
Given ten tries, thought Rivas, I think I might have guessed that. “I’m Pogo Possum,” he said on the spur of the moment, it being a pretty safe bet that neither of these fellows would be well read. “You been in this… trade long?”
“Since the sixth year of the last Ace, Nigel and me both. We were around when young Jaybush first appeared and started recruiting followers. Hell, I used to live in Irvine, in a house that’s behind the white walls today—or was, I guess, until the big explosion in the last year of that Ace.”
Rivas nodded. The rumors of the midnight flash and deafening roar behind the white walls—and speculations that Jaybush himself had died in the blast, for he subsequently went into cloistered seclusion in the Holy City—had shaken the whole structure of the faith, and Rivas, at the age of twenty-one, had taken advantage of the confusion and quietly left the Jaybirds and fled to Venice.
“Did you ever see Norton Jaybush?” Rivas asked.
“Oh hell yes, in those days before he retired into his damned city he was everywhere.” Lollypop shook his head wonderingly. “Can’t really blame people for following him, you know? That man was hard to beat. Still is, I suppose, just doesn’t have to prove it anymore. Yeah, I seen him make a dead man get up and walk around and talk to his family—and I mean dead, this guy was bloated up and stinking.”
“Trees bent over when he walked by, like bowing,” said Nigel. “We seen it.”
“It wasn’t any big thing at all for a hundred birds at once to circle around over his head neat as the rim of a dish, like a big damn whirling halo, and not a peep out of one of ’em.”
My rival for Uri’s devotion, thought Rivas uneasily. And one time father figure of my own, too; though luckily only through the jaybushes, the surrogates, the representatives of him. I probably wouldn’t have had the—the what? Strength of character? Certainty of my identity?—to leave the faith if I’d been dealing with Mister Messiah Jaybush himself. And I’d never have dared to disobey him so directly by going straight to Venice as soon as I ditched the faith. Jaybush had nothing but condemnations for that sinful place.
He was startled then by a quick, rhythmic thumping from inside the wagon under him, and it wasn’t until Nigel, at the rear of the roof, pounded his fist on the wood and yelled, “Save it, slut—they gonna teach you a new dance,” that Rivas realized what the noise had been. One of the girls was evidently having doubts, losing a little of her confidence that the world was in Jaybush’s hands and all was well; for the peculiar running-in-place, arm-waving activity known as Sanctified Dancing was the recommended means to clear the mind of uncomfortable thoughts. Like speaking in tongues, it had never held any attraction for Rivas.
He knew it couldn’t be Uri—this would be only her third day in the faith, and she wouldn’t have been taught Sanctified Dancing yet—but if she actually was in this wagon he wondered what she was making of the spectacle. Often, he recalled, it was kind of scary when someone erupted into it, stamping and waving and gasping, eyes generally screwed tight shut, and it had to be scarier still when it started happening in a dim confinement and you didn’t even know what it was.
He remembered being with her once when her cat dragged itself into the yard, its hind legs useless because of a broken back. Rivas and Uri had been breathlessly rolling around in the grass behind a toolshed in the Barrows yard, and when Uri leaped up and ran to the struggling cat, her eyes were still a little unfocused, her lips swollen—and then when she’d tried to pick it up, the cat
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