Sarah by J.T. LeRoy

door first,’ Le Loup says and leaves, slamming the door behind him. I watch the locks turn as he seals me in with his keys.
    I run to the windows as soon as I hear his car pull away. Thick bars hang from every window. I wrap my hands around them and scream.
    I scream and scream until folks gather beneath the window to see what in all hell’s the matter. I keep screaming even when they run and fetch Stella who has a copy of the keys. I keep screaming even as she comes behind me and puts her hand over my mouth. I bite at her hand and thrash my feet, hitting onlookers in the face, groin, and shins. I scream and kick out even harder as I see Petunia heading toward me with a big fat syringe that I heard she usually uses on herself.
    ‘Quick, hold her arm!’ Stella directs one of the men trying to keep my limbs still.
    I feel a sharp jab in my shoulder and warmth spread through my arm.
    ‘I told you she was really a black snake.’ I hear the dishwasher hiss as I struggle to keep fighting.
    ‘You can never underestimate the power of a black snake to charm and change forms,’ Mary Grace says peeping her head up from behind the dishwasher.
    The room starts to slant and fade. My muscles slacken and I fall into the hands pinning me down. Before my eyes close I see Lymon looking at me with his head tilted and his eyes filled with empathic warmth, like a passerby mourning a car-hit deer being moved to the side of the road.
     
     
    ‘Wake up, c’mon, wake up!’ I feel something shaking at my side and I open my eyes to watch a gigantic shiny black snake swallow my entire arm. I bolt up screaming, shaking the snake off me.
    ‘Grab her, grab her, grab her!’ I turn to see Lymon reaching out and Pooh pointing at me. I look at my arms and can’t find the snake.
    ‘Where’s the snake?’ I gasp and let myself collapse into Lymon’s arms.
    ‘Well, you’re the snake is what I heard tell,’ Pooh says with a small smile playing on her lips.
    ‘Aw, she ain’t no snake, she ain’t no saint, she just a baby girl that needs some lovin’ is all,’ Lymon says and pats my hand in his quivering hand.
    ‘Well, they all think you’re a snake,’ Pooh says nonchalantly. ‘Except Lymon here, and me of course,’ she adds.
    I stare up at Pooh and notice for the first time her face isn’t swollen and her hair has all grown in, no bald patches. ‘You look great, Pooh,’ I whisper.
    ‘She quit drinking,’ Lymon says.
    ‘I’m almost the most famous lizard in all of North America!’ Pooh says, annoyed. ‘Drinking has nothin’ to do with anything. But, yeah, I don’t drink no more.’ She puts her hands triumphantly on her hips.
    ‘I heard, Pooh. Congratulations.’ I reach out my limp hand for her to shake.
    ‘Thank you.’ Pooh squeezes my hand hard.
    ‘Le Loup must be so proud of you,’ I say.
    Pooh gives me a look, but with her face partially averted and her lids half-drawn, I can’t catch it.
    ‘You’re the one living here in his house,’ she says slowly, as if I don’t speak English.
    ‘I think he’s gonna throw me out any minute, Pooh.’ I push myself up out of Lymon’s arms. ‘I wish he would, so I can join you.’ I try to smile at her. Since Pooh had stopped coming to play, I often daydreamed about us living in our own trailer, playing dolls and having a red neon sign out front so folks would all know where to find the most famous lizards. ‘I can’t wait to develop my second sight too.’
    ‘First off, what makes you think you can be as good as me?’ Pooh says, leaning over me. Her breath gives off a sweet grass scent, and not the usual rubbing alcohol smell.
    ‘I saw the Jackalope too,’ I say.
    ‘What’s with you?’ Pooh tilts her head at me. ‘You want to steal everything I own, don’t ya?!’
    ‘Girls,’ Lymon says and gently pulls me back, down onto his lap. ‘Now, Pooh came to me to help save you.’
    Pooh smoothes out her new slick black leather dress and pats her hair in a ladylike