OCR Text |
Show 56 2. minute before someone would s t i c k a knife in i t ." I shook my head. " I t ' s a l l a misunderstanding." Brian grabbed my shoulder and threw me vioLently to ay back. He began to undress me, t e a r i n g my clothes off. "Well, let there be no misunderstanding," he said as he unbuckled himself. "If you betray me, Jeannie, I ' l l split off this crazy planet - and I ' l l take everything I can touch with me." And as he plunged into me, I f e l t i t was a knife that explored my womb. The next morning, with Brian at work, I t r i e d to talk to Ed as he packed h i s seabag. "Why are you going back to L.A. -- a l l those ^people, a l l that hate. You said you loved i t here." He shook h i s head and a dark curl f e l l across his forehead. "In L.A. I can get a l o t of love in return to help counteract the hate. They're making a desert flower t h e r e ." I thought of d i r t y , garish L.A. " I t ' s like returning to the sewers, Ed. Why c a n ' t you stay? Brian will get over it -- he was jealous, t h a t ' s a l l . We won't give him any more reason to be. You said you wanted some land, a farm. We could work together - you could find yourself a g i r l . . ." He s t a r t e d as though someone had touched an electrode to his back. "A g i r l . . . " He touched my h a i r , and looked longingly at me. The sickly-sweetness of n o s t a l g i a flooded me and I flushed. "It was a misunderstanding. Look, I do love you, b u t . . ." "Then why are you so t i e d to him? What are a l l these fences between friends? Why not build them low, l i t t l e picket |