Page 7 (1/2)
Two minutes after Erskine parked, a Chevy pickup pulled off the highway and parked to his right
Erskine stepped froot out of the Chevy They were Ben Shanley and Tom Zell, ere city council to Erskine Potter, and he said nothing to them as he unlocked the front door of the roadhouse and led the the h-backed booths upholstered in dark-blue vinyl Six stairs led to the lower and larger part of the huge rooany, was on the right, at the end of the rectangular main room Opposite the bar, on the left, beyond a set of double doors, a private dining room could accommodate as many as twenty-four
Between the bar and the private area were forty square tables, each with four chairs The tables were furnished with salt and pepper shakers, ketchup bottles, lass cups in which candles would be burning when the place opened for business
Centered along the rear wall, the elevated stage lay beyond the dance floor Behind a backdrop of e area and beyond that were two dressing rooms and two small bathrooms for the exclusive use of the talent
There were no s in the public areas
"Six ways out of this space," Erskine Potter said as he stood on the dance floor with the city council: "Door to the bathroom hall, from which there’s also a fire exit Door to the kitchen hall Double doors to the private dining room, which itself has a fire exit That door in the backbar leads to a service hall And behind those curtains is a backstage door to the parking lot Some of them look like nice wood doors, but they’re steel fire doors clad in fake wood Once locked, nobody can break theet out"
"How many will be here?" Tom Zell asked
"A hundred twenty to a hundred fifty"
"Will any of them be one of us?"
"Their pastor Reverend Kelsey Fortis"
"How many Builders e have?" Ben Shanley asked
"Three"
"What’s the strategy?"
"Take the youngest and strongest men first and fast," Erskine Potter said, "before they can resist Then the other men"
"Will they resist?" Shanley wondered "Church folk?"
"Maybe a little But the et the children out the moment it starts, but they’ll find the doors locked"
"Then we take the wo the children for last"
"Yes Eli, proceed to the weaker and then to the weakest When all the adults have been processed, we can secure the children and present them to the Builders one by one, as they’re needed"
Chapter 15
In the pretty little house, Jocko spent an hour cli Up, down, up, down
Soed down Or whistled Or made up rhymes: "Jocko eats kittens each day for lunch! He eats thely but by the bunch! He eats children for dinner and then--he coughs theain!"
Usually, Jocko paused on the landing To pirouette Pirouetting so
Jocko didn’t actually eat kittens Or children He was just pretending to be a big mean monster
Before he started up the stairs, he made scary faces at the foyer le A couple of times, he screamed in real terror
Jocko was happy Happier than he deserved to be
He didn’t deserve great happiness because, for one thing, he was aor mean
He started life in New Orleans as a kind of tue flesh of one of Victor Frankenstein’s New Race He grew, grew inside the other person Beca his host Free of the New Race body Free of Victor
When you began as a tuet better
Jocko was taller than an average dwarf Pale as soap Hairless Well, except for three hairs on his tongue A knobby chin A lipless slit for a mouth Warty skin Funny feet
Not funny ha-ha Funny yuck
He wasn’t the kind of new s Victor created didn’t turn out like expected
Up the stairs and down again "Jocko’s a spook! Troll, dee, weird, but so cool!"
Jocko didn’t deserve to be happy because he was also a screwup He never looked before he leaped He often didn’t look after he leaped
Jocko knehat goes upbirds, and the stone fell back on his head, and so he ended up stoning himself
Birds They said a bird in the hand orth two in the bush Jocko preferred the two in the bush In Louisiana, birds attacked hi Jocko remained wary of birds
A htened by so ars Runaway horses Rap music His own face Brussels sprouts The television
The TV was super scary Not when it was turned on and you could watch shows When it was off The blank TV was a big mean eye TV watched Jocko when it was off
Erika kept a folded blanket atop the TV When the TV was off, she covered it with the blanket The eye was still open Open under the blanket But at least it couldn’t see Jocko
Monster Screwup Coward And when alone, he couldn’t stopSevere hyperactivity disorder He read it in a book
Yet Jocko continued to be enorely happy So happy he needed to pee frequently He was happy because he was seldom alone these days He and Erika formed a blissful family in this small house on forty acres of meadows and woods
Made in Victor’s creation tanks, Erika was sterile, like all her e to mother someone Victor would have killed her if he’d been aware of it
Victor said faerous People were more loyal to their families than to their rulers Victor wanted no divided loyalties a his creations
Erika called Jocko "little one" She also called hiety to sit still