Free Ambient by Jack Womack Page A

money, and so
could afford neither new refrigerator nor repairperson. The voice
was pleasant, and the sentiment inoffensive; you got used to it.
    Getting a glass from the cupboard, I brushed away the roaches
and rinsed it out. I looked out the window; through the smog I
could see only the warm glow of fires. As I left the kitchen, a
tremendous chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling. There were
gaping holes in every room of the apartment where the plaster
had been shaken loose by the vibrations below, or where our
small roomier had chewed through.
    "What sore-eyed sights so dearlynear," I heard, reentering the
living room. "Long steeped in urinals, flecked roundabye. How
runs this eve, mewlypuke?"
    "Amazing," I said to Enid, staring at Margot, who had come
in from the bedroom while I was in the kitchen. "You didn't
move your lips once-"
    "Sizist," said Margot, addressing me; her contratenor rang
like clanking iron. "The mouth gapes wide and drops the brains
away. "
    She lifted herself onto the sofa, snickering at me. On hobnail
Margot was about three foot nine, an achondroplast: a dwarf, a
born Ambient. She wore a shapeless blazer with the buttons and
sleeves ripped off, and a tee that read ELVIS DIED FOR SOMEBODY'S SINS BUT NOT MINE. Her pants-cut off above her
ankles-looked to have been yanked from a corpse.
    "Control your manikin, Enid. People will talk."

    "True tones told in dulcet crystal," said Margot. Enid handed
me an untapped bottle. I filled my tumbler, and drank.
    "Cheers," I said.
    ` `Fuckall, " they said.
    "Rolling soon?" I asked Margot.
    "Rolling raw to rock away," she said. Margot packed a
swordstick four feet long; she used it as a staff. Around one wrist
she wore a pink leather bracelet beaded with razors. Her black
hair was cropped close, except in the front, where it hung over
her face in long dreads. She'd recently filed her teeth into sharp
points. I didn't dislike Margot, but she could be overly candid in
her expressions toward me. "As we cats awayed," she said, "how
then did piglet play?"
    "Well," I said. "And now expecting a nice, quiet evening in
casa. "
    "Opt for pleaz and not for pain, eh?" she said, hopping off
the sofa, grinding her heel against my foot. "Losient."
    "Pick on your own size," I said.
    Margot balanced her cane across her shoulders, her stubby arms
outstretched. "Your mind sets a great sail burstfull with wind."
    "You'd look lovely crucified," I said.
    "How the thickened plot."
    "Lay no blows, my loves," said Enid, intervening. "So cruel
to each and all."
    "Relax," said Margot, smiling. "With rude children only games
entrap. "
    "Good eve," I said, taking my place on the sofa. Enid stood
to see Margot out.
    "You're off?" she asked her.
    "To skim the wide surf," said Margot.
    "Have fun," I mumbled.
    "Again this way you will?"
    "Again and ever," said Margot. "To the gone world till then."

    "You'll go how?" asked Enid.
    "On angel's wings," said Margot, "with angel's feet."
    Enid bent down to kiss her. Margot lifted her head in caressful
submission; nicked a small slice from Enid's cheek with her razors. My sister shivered with delight. "Merricat," she whispered.
    "Cuddles," said Margot, her voice raw with throat's lust. Enid
began unlocking the door.
    "Bye," I repeated.
    "Order your house, gullyguts," commanded Margot of me,
smashing a favorite vase of mine with her cane. She twisted through
the opened door and was gone.
    "Till tomorrow eve," shouted Enid down the hall. After she
relocked she came back over, took my hand, held it, and squeezed
it hard.
    "A long time of it?" she asked. "You're wearish to my eye."
    "Just an average day," I said. She laughed, lighting another
cigarette; no one but Ambients smoked anymore, not even the
Old Man. The untouchable caste of American smokers never extended to American producers of tobacco; smokestuff could be
exchanged for so many useful things from countries whose health
concerns were less exacting.