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"Try not to sing too s for yourself The universe already hates you Self-pity isn’t going to help"
Whenever the hammer has come down in my life, I’ve alondered what my father would do Then I usually do the opposite, but I still always think of hi my mother’s face instead ofabout Alice And Candy And Allegra breathing fire into Parker’s eyes And Vidocq, who isn’t a father, but whoa arette butt at a rat that’s stalking a couple of pigeons in the parking lot
"You knohat I’ht now?"
Kinski is silent for a minute
"That you really want a drink"
"Yeah, but that’s too easy I alant a drink Guess again"
"You’re back wondering if I’ toward crazy"
I nod and take few steps in the direction of the Mercedes
"Actually, I’oddaels and nephili there And no one told el if you want, but leave me out of it I don’t want to be part of your soap opera I don’t want to be ical"
I start back for the Mercedes, but it looks ridiculous to rasshopper and a Cubist Corvette I walk past the car and into the shadow of a lao As I slip into the Roo part ofright now, going froain? That’s pretty seriously ical"
THERE’S ONLY ONE problem with LA
It exists
LA is what happens when a bunch of Lovecraftian elder gods and porn starlets spend a weekend locked up in the Chateau Mar lines of crank off Jial Traci Lords videos don’t get you going, then the Japanese tentacle porn will
New York has short con cannibals and sewer gators Chicago is all snowbound yetis and the ghosts of a ry steers with horns like jackhahost railroads that kidnap demon-possessed Lolitas to play strip Russian roulette with six shells in the chaels, bloodsuckers and trust-fund satanists, black uls with more bodies buried under the house than John Wayne Gacy
There are more surveillance cameras and razor wire here than around the pope LA is one traffic ja completely Hiroshima
God, I love this town
I NEED FOOD I need booze I need to sarette outside a bar where you can hear people dry hu in the alley behind the Dumpster
I walk fro down stage-six s over a sunset as bloody as the fall of the Roo inside For a second I have that anxiety-drea any pants But no one’s laughing and I’ve got a pocket full of money and a knife tucked in the back of
More girls s into Bamboo House than have smiled at me in my entire life There uy in a purple velvet Edwardian jacket holds the door for o inside Scratch the scar convention We’ve been invaded by Renn Faire rejects on acid I stand for a minute in the alcove Let oes dead silent Carlos even kills the music My balls shrink up inside my body and my hand sneaks back for my knife I openIn a"Sandlitter it says ding dong, the witch is dead There’s a framed picture of Mason with a black wreath around it on the bar Soic Marker
People rush forward and start shakingme on the back Women kiss me Guys with funny accents kiss me, too Some are dressed like ordinary businessmen and women, students, hipsters, and adolescent neopunks Others look like they’re on a weekend pass from an asylum in Oz
Holy shit The Sub Rosa have taken over e match with Mason and the Kissi
Fuck me I’m a rock star And all I really wanted was a burrito
I belly up to the bar and Carlos beams at me
"Your friends are a blast!" he yells over the din "Why didn’t you bring them in before?"
"I didn’t know they wereHe can’t hear a word I say Heto ht up to hiic"
"Can you h to eat Orange County"
Two h food to feed the Pacific Rim I hold up my tumbler full of Jack and Carlos and I toast each other He looks extreht be a bunch of lunatics, show-offs, and bureaucrats, but they’re a big part of the underground economy that keeps California afloat And they’re not shy about splashing around cash If the Bamboo House of Dolls stays Sub Rosa central, Carlos will have enough money to retire by Friday
I try to eat, but people keep co at all, don’t hesitate to call About fifty different wouys I don’t re lovefest blur, and as nice as these people are being, it’s really getting toout for a smoke, but what I really need is a shadow to disappear into
On the other hand, I really need a sht up by the side of the bar A woman walks over to me She’s dressed like Stevie Nicks in her how-fast-can-I-burn-out-ets closer, she beco She has the whitest skin I’ve ever seen And there’s soe about her face: it moves whether she talks or not Her face is like the phases of the eous bride-to-be to an old wo fun inside?" she asks
I shrug
"It’s nice, but it’s a littleto finish this and sneak off"
"I’et the package I left with your friend Vidocq?"
Feathers Wolf teeth Blood