"Mesler, Corey - daniel eldritch's guardian angel (SS)(txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mesler Corey)

Evenings were spent watching television. Sonny was a sucker for the lowest-common-denominator situation comedies, shows without one funny joke, formulaic crap to DanielТs eyes. But, he sat there with his angel while the angel guffawed and hee-hawed at the worst lines, right along with the audience who were coerced by cue-cards. Daniel smiled the smile of the patient, the penitent, the expectant.
Sometimes there was talk and this Daniel lived for. At the bank there was a new lightness to the Bartlebian clerk. He tinkled hellos around the office like flowers. He joined in conversations in the break room, conversations which often centered around television shows, so Daniel was prepared, had done his homework.
But, sometimes at home Sonny spoke to Daniel. Sometimes he held forth like a burning bush and Daniel soaked this in.
УYou get my Kools?Ф Sonny might begin.
Or, УWhatТre we eating?Ф
But, sometimes this led to deeper pools of reflection.
УSonny, sorry,Ф Daniel said one evening.
УYes, my compadre,Ф Sonny answered him while chasing a fly.
УThis life after death thing, this is real, this is what weТre working towards?Ф
Sonny would wrinkle his great brow, now scrubbed clean in the white-tiled sanctum sanctorum of DanielТs bathroom.
УDaniel,Ф Sonny would pronounce, his voice deepening with the word of the ages. УI find it better to live in the moment. I find the eternal lengthy and unwieldy. You canТt fit it in the back of your hatchback. You canТt even find a friend to help you tote it. You see what I mean?Ф
УI think so,Ф Daniel said.
УLife is like, um,Ф Sonny ran a hand through his graying, thinning hair. УItТs like those whirly things, you knowЕФ
УTops?Ф Daniel offered.
УNaw, you knowЕФ
УSorry, um, dancers, egg beaters, merry-go-rounds?Ф
УExactly,Ф Sonny said, though Daniel didnТt know which shot hit. УYou gotta be prepared all day every day, see. Attach yourself to life, Danny. Attach yourself. You gotta have food, your cigs. And you gotta get laid. RegularlyФ
Daniel found this strange advice indeed. Laid? Daniel didnТt think too much about sex. If he did it was with Lettie from the bank. He had a fantasy about her, sure, picturing her naked which filled him with shame, making her jiggling, fleshy torso jump about like a marionette in his reverie. Who else? He never talked to women.
УSex,Ф DanielТs voice broke like a twelve-year-oldТs. УAhem. Sex, sorry, is important?Ф
УOh, right-o,Ф Sonny said, a blissful grin broadening across his clean shaven face, a crack in an earthen jug. УYou know anyone? IТm kinda horny myself?Ф
Daniel reddened under the interrogation. He found something to do in the kitchen. Where was all this heading?
So, it was a few nights later, when Daniel arrived home that his private quarters had been transformed. Everything seemed to be lit with fire, music was playing. The angel greeted him at the door, smiling like a holy fool.
УWha--?Ф Daniel managed before he saw the women behind Sonny, both standing as if at attention, side by side, Tweedle-Me and Twaddle-Me. They were wearing the briefest of clothing, though the night was heading toward autumnal coolness.
УSandra and Testine,Ф Sonny said, sweeping his arm expansively backwards, like a gameshow host.
УHello,Ф Daniel said.
УOur guests,Ф Sonny added.
УI, um, sorry, I didnТt prepare dinner for four.Ф
УAll taken care of by your protector and translunary catechist,Ф Sonny said. Daniel smiled weakly. Was Sonny talking in Latin? What did any of this mean? Why were there women in his home?
Sonny pulled Daniel into the kitchen while the women smiled and one of them gave a little girl wave. Sonny had on a new silk shirt over cream-colored double-knit slacks.
УI had some Chinese delivered,Ф Sonny said. The kitchen counter was flowered with small white boxes. УI used the money in the catfood jar.Ф Daniel had had a cat but it had died over a year ago. The moneyЧGod knows how much--sat in the jar like a lazy ghost.
УFine,Ф Daniel said, a bit dazed.
УUm, speaking of money,Ф Sonny said, putting a meaty arm around Daniel and placing his broad mouth next to DanielТs head. УThe girls want it up front.Ф
It took Daniel a moment to register this. Of course, they were hookers. Of course.
УUm, how much?Ф Daniel said and he reached for his wallet like a million sheep before him.
Somehow Daniel ended up with the one called Testine, a brunette with the chest of a young boy but childbearing hips and beautiful legs. Somehow they ended up in DanielТs bedroom. Somehow Testine ended up naked and Daniel ended up lying beside her still in full suit, like armor.
Testine was as radiant as an archangel. Her skin shone like ambergris.
She took DanielТs armor off, undressed him as if he were a small child. She placed DanielТs hand over the thatched notch between her legs and Daniel felt something queer and unearthly, something alive and strange, this moist portion of loam, this birthplace. It felt like an new-born animal, still needing to be licked clean. He had never felt anything like it in his life. Testine took DanielТs unused penis into her own tabernacle. She performed an ancient alchemy and when his body bucked and squirted of its own accord Daniel saw stars. This was religion, Daniel thought. This was as magnificent as life gets.
After the women had gone Daniel sat next to Sonny who was unusually sober and serious, thoughts colliding behind his protuberant brow.
УWell,Ф Daniel said.
Sonny still sat, pondering.
УThank you for that,Ф Daniel had to say. He feltЧwhat?--He felt transformed, turned inside out. He saw an antediluvian wisdom in the actions his angel had put into motion that evening. УWhat are you thinking?Ф Daniel finally had to say.
SonnyТs face broke into sunshine.
УThe tits on that Sandra,Ф Sonny said.



*


In the weeks that followed the two women visited often. It wasnТt all sex, but to Daniel there seemed a lot of it. Some nights the four of them sat watching television, eating pizza. Some nights Daniel cooked for them all.