Stabs at Happiness (22 page)

Focus on desire, emotional involvement, ability to transform dreams into realities. People are drawn to you with their problems —you'll be invited to join “secret sessions.” Member of opposite sex feels you are not living up to potential.

She loved candy, but she'd only take one bite. Clark, who'd fallen for her a bit, fascinated despite being straight and having a girlfriend, bought Kimberly some Grand Marnier truffles. She thanked him gracefully, modestly, and then just took one bite.

“Here, you have the rest.”

And she put it to his lips and made him eat it, seemingly taking vicarious pleasure in the idea of the flavor in his mouth.

Clark watched her one day, when she was changing costume, wearing only panties and bra, and she saw him looking. She gave him a special smile.

The vast play battleground had been constructed by Jean-Luc's nephew, his eldest brother's son, who was ten years old and lived in Brooklyn Heights. Jean-Luc had seen the detail that Stephen put into his elaborate train-set, with all the figures and little bushes and trees, and it came to him that the patent artificiality, filmed in extreme close-ups, including the manipulating hands (hands of the gods), would be perfect for simulating big battles.

He had to buy the materials, and the hundreds of plastic little Indians who could be transformed into warriors of the past, but Stephen was enormously excited by the project. His friend Ira helped him. Jean-Luc paid Stephen thirty dollars, of which Ira got twelve.

THE BABYLONIANS vs. THE ASSYRIANS

THE BABYLONIANS vs. THE ELAMITES

THE BABYLONIANS vs. THE ISRAELITES

Each battle was different from the last. Stephen and Ira were delighted to be able to set things afire, pierce figures with needles and daub them with blood, behead them, move about the chariots with their little horses wearing plumes, knock down the gate.

THE BABYLONIANS vs. THE PERSIANS

“I went to Bryn Mawr for a couple of months,” said Kim to a guy at a party, making it up as she went along, “and then I couldn't stand it anymore. All those snotty rich girls wearing bib overalls and going around with hairy legs, pretending to be serious about every injustice the world has ever known, pretending that they'd like to be a peasant in Cuba or Red China; then they'd just write another check, take another plane to Switzerland or France, meet their parents and complain. You know what I mean? Save me from these hippies.”

“So what do you do? I mean,” the guy said, “to pay your rent?”

“That's a personal question, but I don't mind. I'm a professional groupie. I run a string of groupies, and when the bands come to town the managers get in touch with my service to make sure the bass-player or the drummer, if he's ugly, you know, gets a good-looking groupie all his own. Do you play guitar? My favorite band is T. Rex. I love Marc Bolan, though he's terrible when they play live. I like records better anyway.
Are you my main man? Are you now? Are you now?
I always want it to sound the same. I hate live shows. I don't know. I'm so full of shit. I guess I like the messiness of seeing them live. I'm really high. Do you wanna go up on the roof ?”

Was there a blowjob in the offing for the squarejohn? Maybe so.

Stock footage: the b&w archers strung their bows, awaiting the order to let their arrows fly. They looked more like Normans or Saxons or Visigoths than Babylonians, but Jean-Luc liked them anyway. His glasses were repaired with tape. The arrows made a slow-motion fragile arc of vectors, coming to rest in the torsos of enemy warriors or clattering off their shields.

This footage was replayed.

Kim packed her suitcase to try to escape the fall of Babylon and go to St. Louis, deathly afraid of the oncoming Assyrian hordes and their reputation for atrocities.

“I've heard that it gets real muggy in St. Louis during the summer, but it can't be any more humid than here in Babylon. God, last year as soon as you got out of the shower you'd be soaking in sweat. I didn't pay any attention to the things that the Hell's Angel wanted me to do, I just listened to
freak out in a moonage daydream
,” and David Bowie faded in, all movement giving way to a static close-up of Kim's face.

Cut to the Assyrian hordes.

The b&w dance sequence featured twenty young women, all costumed after the manner of a typical sexy Hollywood Biblical extravaganza, scantily clad in shiny gold, with elegant headdresses owing as much in style to modern Las Vegas as to ancient Babylon or Ur.

A shot from above: a roseate pattern. Then it bloomed.

“I need these pills to survive, uh, the strangeness of existence,” said Kim, as Beverly Hills watched her swallow one with a sip of Coke. “Not just the particular strangeness of my particular existence, though I suppose that's bad enough. But everyone feels this unnaturalness I think. Everything moving wants to be at rest. Am I making sense?”

“Yeah,” said Beverly, “It's like
Valley of the Dolls
.” She paused so they both could consider this.

“I liked that book,” said Kim. “Did you ever read
The Carpetbaggers
, by Harold Robbins? That's the best one. This girl named Rina Marlowe—Jean Harlow, get it?—spills orange pop on her boobs, and it gets her brother all excited, he gets a hard-on, and she tells him that she's been spying on him, watching him jerk off, and I can't remember why they don't get it on, but… he goes off and commits suicide. Anyway, that's the first book where I ever saw the word ‘cunt.' I love that word. Call me that, all right?”

“Cunt.
Cunt
. You're nothing but a cunt.”

“Great,” said Kim, sighing. “Do it again.”

The three qualities women look for in nail enamels are:

– gloss and brilliance

– depth and coverage

– exceptionally long-lasting “hold”

The enamel must be applied to the nail in a
single layer with one stroke of the brush
. Each coat must dry before the next one is applied. Always start with the little finger or thumb of one hand and use the same order with the other hand as well.