The Ticket That Exploded

by William S. Burroughs

  Ali woke in a strange bed to find the proprietor standing over him, “Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my apartment?” Ali flashed back to the suburban cocktail party — music from the ‘20s — old women doing the Charleston — and the Irishman with iron-grey hair who looked like a con cop from vaudeville —

  “Easy way and a tough way to do things, kid — i can put you up for the night in this apartment — The owner is out of town and i dont think he’ll be back before tomorrow night —”

  “But Mr O’Brien said —”

  “Tell O’Brien he can stay in his own precinct — This happens to be my apartment — Put on your dry goods and cut —”

  Ali dressed hastily — Tucking his shirt he slipped out into the American suburb — The streets were empty and clean like after a heavy rain — At an intersection of cracked concrete boys turned slow circles on roller skates under a half-moon in the morning sky, swept by storms of color as the sun rose — Ali felt his steps lighter and lighter — He floated away on eddies of blue and green — He alighted in the clear atmosphere of a green land where every blade of grass shone as if framed in crystal — The gravity pull was light so his feet barely touched the ground as he ran along clear streams of water under dripping trees — came to a city of worn marble streets and copper domes — In the lobby of a luxury hotel page boys in elaborate uniforms assessed his financial status with experienced eyes — On the wall was a little sign:

  The Nature of Begging

  Need ? —— Lack -

  Want? —— Need-

  Life? —— Death-

  Ali walked out into the main square — fish smells and dead eyes in doorways — obscene gestures of proposition — In a dark side street off the square Ali found what looked like an old chemist’s shop with jars of colored liquid in the window — A little black man, body bent by a fibrous tumor came forward to meet him with a chirp of interrogation — He was wearing double lens glasses that slid down on his nose — Ah drew out the plastic bag he carried with the flattened grey membrane inside — The shopkeeper took it in smooth black fingers and held it up to the light — He gave a little chirping call and his assistant came in from shadow recesses of the shop — It was some creature like a large grasshopper with a body that changed color as he walked past the jars — The eyes were crystal lens — His penis, which was held in upright position by a long silver cord extending into the abdomen, moved in flash erections to currents of color— He held the membrane in adzes and grafting tools that fitted into his fibrous finger stumps — As he looked his body pulsed a brilliant green — The shopkeeper nodded and brought out a jar about two feet high full of a heavy white fluid — The assistant opened the envelope with a little curved knife and dropped the membrane into the jar — As Ali watched the membrane stirred like a Japanese flower and blossomed into a tiny green newt with human head — The creature opened black liquid eyes for a few seconds then curled into foetal sleep and sank to the bottom of the jar — The shopkeeper covered the jar with a cloth and put it on a dark shelf — He smiled and drew a map on the counter — Starting from the shop a dotted line led to a system of canals, a pump, two penises in orgasm, closed eyes of sleep five times — Then the dotted line led back to the shop — He looked at Ali to be sure he understood — Ali nodded and walked on the dotted line — The marble streets ended in mud — He could see a system of canals with thatched huts and gardens and tanks tended by little black men with fibrous tumors and moles from which sprouted green hairs — They looked up from their work and flashed quick smiles —A heavy smell of compost heaps and rotten ponds filled the air — As he passed over a bridge a green newt boy surfaced in a canal smiled and masturbated quickly ejaculating an iridescent fluid that glinted in the clear light — He twisted with a mocking laugh and dove out of sight in the black water — Ali walked along the canal and found himself in a maze of pumps and locks and could not find how he got there or the way out — At the bottom of this maze a man in green tattered uniform motioned him to come down pointing to an iron stairway that led out on a wooden ramp — The man stood waiting at the end of the ramp — Ali walked toward him smiling like a dog — “i am a stranger here — i am sorry if — i do not know your laws” — The guard was smiling too — a slow familiar smile like: “Perhaps you don’t go into the prison if” — flashed back to customs shed in South America — Ali bent over a chair feeling quick pants of the young policeman on his naked back — The carbine leaning against one wall sharp and clear in the flash bulb of orgasm — “So” — he thought “things are not different here” —

  The man led him to a shed — Inside was a pallet on the floor — Clothing hung from wooden pegs — In another room he could see levers and wheels obviously controlling the pumps and locks — The man flicked Al’s clothes — He undressed slowly dropping his pants with a wriggling motion as his cock flipped out and up — The man stood naked in green light that filtered into the shed from overhanging vines and fruit trees — He picked Ali up in his arms and kissed him — His breath had a vegetable smell slightly rotten like tropical fruit — He carried Ali to the pallet and shoved his knees up to his ears — From a shelf he took a little jar of what looked like frogs’ eggs and gave off an odor of moldy proteins — He rubbed the eggs into Ali’s ass — Ali could feel something coming alive in his rectum and wriggling down into his testicles — The man slid his cock in — Ali squirmed teeth bared wriggling feelers caressing his penis rubbing around nerves at the tip — The man caught his ejaculation in the jar — Tiny green frogs with sucker paws stirred in the sperm —

  He stayed for five nights with the man sleeping on the pallet and eating meals of fruit from the garden and helping with the wheels and levers — At the end of five days the man gave him the jar of eggs and he went back to the shop and gave the eggs to the shopkeeper —

  The shopkeeper smiled and took the other jar down from the shelf — The green newt boy, still curled in sleep, had grown until it filled the jar — The shopkeeper drew a map on the counter dotted line to a hut in the canal system — And Ali walked out carrying the jar along the line to a hut where an old man greeted him — Ali uncovered the jar — The man clapped his hands softly and made a little clucking noise — He showed Ali a series of tanks behind his hut like an elaborate cesspool, one tank draining into another — In the tanks were green newt boys in various stages and the last tank opened out into black water of the canal — The man emptied the jar into the first tank — Ali turned to walk away and felt the man’s hand on his shoulder, led him back into the hut — He measured Ali’s neck like a tailor and selected from a shelf two dried gills which he fitted carefully and gave to Ali in a plastic envelope — He motioned to the sky — He made a choking sound and pointed to the bag —

  Ali began hustling around the square where the nobles cruised in the evening — dark street life of a place forgotten — The city was swept by waves of giant carnivorous land crabs and Ali learned to hide himself when he heard their snapping claws like radio static — Explosions of time film was another danger in the city — One evening in the square he heard a rumble like muffled thunder — Everyone running for the canals and shouting “The Studio went up” — A cloud of red nitrous fumes settled on the city — Ali, gasping and choking, remembered and reached for his plastic bag — He put the gills around his neck and dove into a wellhead carved to resemble a stone rectum — As he fell deep into the green water he could feel the gills cut into his neck — A sudden sharp taste of blood and he was breathing and swimming along an underground passage — He could see light ahead and came out into one of the open canals —

  Ali woke in a strange bed — As you listen fill in with him “Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my image track?” Ali was wide awake now and clicked “out of here,” female impersonators, music back to the ‘20s, suburban pool halls and vaudeville voice of a grey-haired Irishman who turned over a steady stream of “easy way and a tough way to do time” — Meanwhile i had forgotte
n the owner in this apartment — scent of memory pictures — people gone — back tomorrow night —

  “But Mr O’Brien said” —

  “Tell O’Brien to stay in his own precinct — This happens to be my dawn wind in other flesh” —

  Ali dressed hastily and slipped out — Board members, look, the streets are empty — Young faces melted the law, turned slow circles on roller skates — Nova Police look at the wired color sunrise — Errand boy floating on eddies of red and green alighted in slow-motion flashes of clear atmosphere — The gravity pull was lighter — does not know the frequency of junk — marble streets and copper domes — Darkened eyes of page boys in elaborate physical skin put his financial status out in the streets — East St. Louis music on chirping call — His genitals were voices out into other dressing rooms — long silver thread that extended in flash erections back and forth — switch to office of a garage — sharp desire held the membrane —

  “Yes you have grafting tools — Without you i on pavement” —

  The shopkeeper nodded good bye — translucent white fade-out — Sticky office spattered light on naked knives — from his face newsreels of riots moving in fast — Ali round the Board —

  “What’s this Japanese flower blossomed into sinking ship? You trying source of human head on screen?”

  Boneless mummy curled into foetal tank — The shopkeeper covered — fade-out at dawn — Hurry up — Hands put it on a dark shelf — He smile and twist brain — starting with the shop a dotted corpse last round — the gate from two cocks in orgasm — men smoking on the end of the line — sleep five times — then the dotted line —

  “We been subliminated in doorways,” looked at Ali to be sure he understood, “Beside you wind voices on dotted line trailed system of canals — not think the Doctor on stage”—

  They looked up from their work — empty all hate faces — vapor trails writing the sky — Some boy surfaced in the canal — Iridescent harbor glinted in the stellar light — mocking laugh of absent tenants — ghost riots along the canal and found himself in a garage — Stood naked — good bye of hydraulic pumps spattered on his face — out at the bottom interrogate substance of green uniform was motioning “want it” — tentative empty flesh of KY and rectal mucus? — End of the ramp man stood waiting — gate from human form — “We been subliminated like a dog — stranger face sucked in other apparatus” — “sorry if” —

  The man was smiling, flapping vapor like rusty swamp smell — flicker back to a custom shed in South America — (“First we must write the ticket”) — Feeling the quick pants of mummy — goosed his ass — carbine leaning against one wall — burning orgasm — wind voices beside masturbating pallet on the floor —

  “Out of here, female impersonators” —

  Wooden pegs in another room forgotten memory controlling the structure of his Scandinavian outhouse skin — The man flicked Ali’s clothes — Prisoner pants with wriggling movement stood naked now in green mummy flesh, hanging vines and deflated skin — Death kissed him — His breath talked to the switchblade — He dropped Ali on the last parasite from the shelf before newsreels shut off — Looked like frog eggs — He was shoving the eggs — Poo Poo snickered, coming alive in his rectum like green neon — Into the prostate his slow fingers — Ali squirmed his teeth bared — The man caught his spurts like a pack of cards — He stayed for five nights in the tarnished office eating meals of fruit from color vapor — At the end of five days newsreels of riot move in fast — The eggs went back to boneless mummy — Ghost keeper smiled and fade-out at dawn — Hands of light fell apart in corpse — last jar — The shopkeeper drew a map in absent bodies — empty the canal area — Ali twisted through open shirt — He found his way to their ship in the harbor — The man travel on newsreels — Exquisite screen penis spurted again — corpse tanks — end of the line and last jar — led the Doctor on stage — Sex phantoms emptied the jars into afternoon image track — He turned to walk away and suffused the hut — people gone — Diarrhea exploded down from a shelf —

  “Ali hanged after being milked, see?” made a choking noise and pointed — orgasm of a place forgotten — Corpses hang from gallows — “Land crabs” — He dissolved in smoke and crumpled cloth —

  “All right, Doctor — Indications enough — i told you i would come — healed scars — The Studio went up — a cloud of nitrous Big Fix” — Ali gasped and choked and reached courage to pass without doing pictures around his neck — He could feel suddenly shut-off taste of blood and all the Garden of Delights — He could see sex scenes in the open canals of time —

  do you love me?

  The young monk led Bradly to a cubicle — On a stone table was a tape recorder — The monk switched on the recorder and sounds of lovemaking filled the room — The monk took off his robe and stood naked with an erection — He danced around the table caressing a shadowy figure out of the air above the recorder — A tentative shape flickering in and out of focus to the sound track — The figure floated free of the recorder and followed the monk to a pallet on the floor — He went through a pantomime of pleading with the phantom who sat on the bed with legs crossed and arms folded — Finally the phantom nodded reluctant consent and the monk twisted through a parody of lovemaking as the tape speeded up: “Oh darling i love you oh oh deeper oh oh fuck the shit out of me oh darling do it again” — Bradly rolled on the floor, a vibrating air hammer of laughter shaking flesh from the bones — Scalding urine spurted from his penis — The Other Half swirled in the air above him screaming, face contorted in suffocation as he laughed the sex words from throat gristle in bloody crystal blobs — His bones were shaking, vibrated to neon — Waves of laughter through his rectum and prostate and testicles giggling out spurts of semen as he rolled with his knees up to his chin —

  All the tunes and sound effects of “Love” spit from the recorder permutating sex whine of a sick picture planet: Do you love me? — But i exploded in cosmic laughter — Old acquaintance be forgot? — Oh darling, just a photograph? — Mary i love you i do do you know i love you through? — On my knees i hoped you’d love me too — I would run till i feel the thrill of long ago — Now my inspiration but it won’t last and well be just a photograph — i’ve forgotten you then? i can’t sleep, Blue Eyes, if i don’t have you — Do i love her? i love you i love you many splendored thing — Can’t even eat — Jelly on my mind back home — ‘Twas good bye deep in the true love — We’ll never meet again, darling, in my fashion — Yes eyes ever shining that made me my way — Always it’s a long trip to Tipperary — Tell Laura i love my blue heaven — Get up woman up off your big fat earth out into cosmic space with all your diamond rings — Do you do you do you love me? — Lovey lovey dovey brought to mind? What? Do you love me with a banjo? — Please don’t be angry — i wonder who — If i had learned to love you every time i felt blue — But someone took you out of the Stardust of the skies — Your charms travel to remind me of you — together again — forgotten you eat — Don’t know how i’ll make it baby — blue eyes the color of — Do you love me? Love is para olvidar — Tell Laura oh jelly love you — i can’t — Got you under my skin on my mind — But i’ll always be true to my blue heaven — Love Mary? — Fuck the shit out of me — Get up off your big fat rusty-dusty — It’s a long way to go, St. Louis woman — prospect of red mesas out to space — Do you love me? — Do you love void and scenic railways back home?? And do you love me with a banjo permutated through do you love me? — i wonder who permutated the structure every time i felt blue — But that was ferris wheels clicking in the Stardust of the sky — on perilous tracks — i had a dog his name was Bill aworking clouds of Me — Tearing his insides apart — Need a helping hand? — understanding out of date — Find someone else at this time of day? Torch cutting through the eats? —

  Don’t know how i’ll make it, baby — Electric fingers removed “Love” — Do you love me? — Love is red sheets of pain hung oh oh baby oh jelly — The guide slipped off his
jelly — I’ve got you under my skin pulsing red light — Clouds of Me always be true to you — Hula hoops of color formed always be true to you darling in my Bradly — Weak and torn i’ll hurry to my blue heaven as i sank in suffocation panic of rusty St. Louis woman — With just a photograph, Mary, you know i love you through sperm — Contraction turnstile hoped you’d love me too — Orgasm floated arms still i feel the thrill of slow movement but it won’t last — i’ve forgotten you then? — i love you i love you and bones tearing his insides apart for the ants to eat — Jelly jelly jelly shifting color orgasm back home — Scratching shower of sperm that made cover of the board books — It’s a long way to Tipperary — soft luminous spurts to my blue heaven — Pieces of cloud drifted through all the tunes from blue — Exploded in cosmic laughter of cable cars . . . Me? — Oh, darling, i love you in constant motion — i love you i do — You led Bradly into a cubicle on my knees — love floating in a slow vertigo of you — perilous tracks where wind whistled long ago — i can’t sleep, baby, skin pulling loose if i don’t have you — a peg like many splendored thing — i’ve got you deep in the guides body enclosed darling in my fashion — yes cool hands on his naked flesh my way — evening intestines of the other — Tell Laura i love her sucked through pearly genital woman off your big fat shower of sperm — Diamond rings spurt out of you — Should be brought to mind — Ejaculated bodies without a cover —

  I learned to love you, pale adolescents — Someone took you out of the creature charms — We’ll travel weak and torn by pain together — Silver films in the blood para olvidar — Tell Laura black fish movement of food love you — i can’t sleep reflected in obsidian penis — Follow the swallow and released dream flesh in Isle of Capri — The truth in sunlight, Mary — memory riding the wind — It’s a long way to go — someone walking — mountain wind —