The Year's Best SF 08 # 1990

by Gardner Dozois (ed)

  “Zenobia went to prison. Didn’t you try to tell them she was helping you?”

  “There was no point in mentioning the baby, Paul. That would have constituted another crime, I’m sure. She was as good as her word. He was never found. She made him safe somewhere. A little funeral boat on the river late at night, away from all the witnesses, maybe. And they would have found him if she had been deceiving me, Paul. She got him home somehow.”

  Dumb with sadness, I could only reach out and stroke her arms and hands, reach for her unhappy face.

  We ate so as not to offend our host, but without appetite. Above the river the sun was at its zenith and Aswan experienced the familiar, unrelenting light of an African afternoon.

  She looked out at the river with its day’s flow of debris, the plastic jars, the used sanitary towels, the paper and filth left behind by tourists and residents alike.

  With a deep, uneven sigh, she shook her head, folded her arms under her breasts and leaned back in the engulfing foam.

  All the fhouls and the marinated salads, the ruqaq and the meats lay cold before us as, from his shadows, the proprietor observed us with discreet concern.

  There came a cry from outside. A boy perched high on the single mast of his boat, his white gelabea tangling with his sail so that he seemed all of a piece with the vessel, waved to friends on the shore and pointed into the sky. One of our last herons circled overhead for a moment and then flew steadily south, into what had been the Sudan.

  My sister’s slender body was moved for a moment by some small, profound anguish.

  “He could not have lived here.”

  Aswan, Egypt, Oct/Nov 1988

  Oxford, England, Jul/Aug 1989

  Porto Andratx, Majorca, Sept 1989

  Chapter Quotes:

  1 Hood; 2 Khayyam Fitzgerald; 3 AE; 4 Dylan Thomas; 5 Wheldrake; 6 Yokum; 7 Aeschylus MacNiece; 8 Vachel Lindsay; 9 F. Thompson; 10 Peake; 11 Treece; 12 Duffy; 13 Nye; 14 C.D. Lewis; 15 E. St. V. Millay; 16 Nye.

  DAFYDD aB HUGH

  The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, a Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk

  Here new writer Dafydd ab Hugh, author of the novels Heroing and Warriorwards, delivers up as powerful a story as you’re likely to read this year—a hard-edged but compassionate Post Holocaust story that is “peopled” with a cast of characters unlike any you’ve ever met before.…

  The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, a Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk

  DAFYDD aB HUGH

  Chapter one we hear the story

  I heard the story from an old Coon at first sitting at my favorite place on the hardground just outside the bowl alley on venture path. Then later he and I played chase and bounce with a ball and bounded it on venture path. But the story kept running around and around inside my ears like it was casting for a scent so I just had to find out more about it.

  So I and the Boy Nik Nok and Disha the Dog and Hanki and Yanki the Cats sat in a circle and I told them each and all about the Hidden Den and the Coon who could not talk:

  He lived under the jerryfams next to the bowl alley. He told me by whispers that he had ruptured his larinks. That is his throat where he talks, Disha the Dog said (she is very smart, smarter than me and the others especially Hanki and Yanki). Then the Coon acted out the whole story standing on his back legs to mean human being, staggering to tell me he meant stupid and looking back east so I would know he meant stupid like the fourlegs were before Democrazy.

  I put what the Coon said in words as best I could and this, was it:

  Across the city and too far for a chase there are humans like before Democrazy and they are all sealed up in a den where no air can go in and out, and the Winds of Law have not blown either.

  Inside the den the fourlegs are all stupid like before Democrazy too, and they have to work for the humans and cannot think and have no Inalienable Progrets.

  Nobody knew what to say after I finished my story. Disha and Nik Nok always ignore me for they see no real difference between a Skunk and a Cat, except for the white stripe and the odie Skunk of course.

  But even I knew something had to be done, so I said “if we love Democrazy then something has to be done.”

  Chapter two we deleminate the problem

  “Well if you love Democrazy and the Winds of Law that made us all Equal then what are we going to do about that den, where there is no Progrets and no Law?”

  I was afraid to answer for I knew what the only answer could be and I was only a Skunk!

  But I knew I had no choice and neither did Disha and neither even did Nik Nok. He was not of the old Men, the ones who exploded the less fortunate and took advantages. He believed in Democrazy. I had seen him cover his face in the Cord House.

  I looked up at Disha and “this is what we will do about that den” said I, “journey all the way across the city and bring Democrazy and the Will of Progrets to this den of unequity.”

  Disha squatted and made water on the whitestone trail beside my favorite old den.

  “Do you really want to take the trip when you might find the Overizon instead?”

  Now I thought for a long time before I answered her. Was there even Democrazy and Equality beyond the venture path? I did not know even though I always thought Progrets had spread it everywhere. But after hearing the old Coon’s tale I wondered.

  “These humans are trying to stop the spread of Democrazy that Progrets started when it loosed the bug that rode the Winds of Law and did us all” I said and I thought I had said a mouthful.

  “But will you go” she asked like Fiday the teacher coaxing the right answer.

  Chapter three some decide to go

  I thought quietly, not looking at her. I do not know what made me ask “who will come with me if I go” but it slipped out.

  She waited too long and I knew she was afraid too, then she said “if you go I at least will come with you. You must ask the others for yourself.”

  We gathered the group again and told them what we were going to do to save Democrazy.

  The old Coon had said only one thing more to me, in the whisper again for he could not convoy this by gestures. He whispered that this Hidden Den was across the city of angels at the foot of the other mountains, where the underbuild had fallen in.

  As soon as Hanki and Yanki heard this, they said there would be wild things along the way, and then they high tailed it out of there as Cats will, for Cats are hardly smarter than before there was Progrets. Only I and Disha and Nik Nok the Boy stayed.

  “Is Disha going to go” asked Nik Nok in a strange voice. “Yes” she said for she had already said she at least would go with me. “Then surely I shall go too” he said.

  Disha tilted her head as she looked at him. A gleam in her eyes frightened me, being somehow wrong.

  “Then there are three of us” she said, and “when shall we start?”

  “Let us wait” said I, “let us wait until the shadows are longer. I bow to the Will of Progrets but I hear there is no Democrazy under a hot sun.”

  Chapter four off we go then

  All too soon the shadows grew, and the hot Santa’s Anus blew from the nightside and we had to set out.

  We chased the scents between the fallen walls and square builds sometimes running and sometimes walking when old Disha got tired but all the while making way toward the other mountains.

  Nik Nok never seemed to tire as Boys will not, but he stayed very near Disha even when she had to rest.

  Soon all the smells were strange to me and I could see nothing I knew, it was not the venture path or anywhere I had been before and I was uneasy.

  We ran by a fire once. I heard the boom boom boom inside the giant den and I watched until the walls tired and fell in against each other, such is Progrets.

  Chapter five we meet death and Democrazy

  All at once as the sun rose in the sky like a big burn, Disha stopped and I almost ran into her.

  She perked her ears up and snuffled her nose t
owards the sun but I could not smell anything yet and there was nothing to see but a hill of metal trash and rotwood. “Come on Nik Nok” she said and started to climb through a notch in the hill.

  No one called to me, but I followed anyway for I was not about to get left alone in a strange place.

  Then I smelled it too, it was a dead Dog in the bottom of the hill, named Duk Duk. I had played chase and bounce with her not long before.

  He was dead and he smelled of junk to me.

  Disha and Nik Nok stood together at the top of the hill and I could see the Boy did not really understand death yet, for he called out to Duk Duk. Then I smelled his fear as he began to understand.

  Disha must have smelled it too for she moved over to put her head against his thigh.

  “Do not be afraid Nik Nok” she said “for I will protect you.”

  “It is not Junkyard Dogs and falling walls that scare me” he said “but I had a funny feeling in my stomach just now. Something bad is going to come of this extra diction. I have never been away from the bowl alley and venture path before.”

  Disha nuzzled his ear softly and licked it.

  “Nik Nok you are still too young to fight wars. You go home and I will be back to play with you very soon.”

  He put his arms around her neck and “I cannot let you do it alone” he said. “And I am not too young for I became a man a season ago, at night in a dream.”

  I shivered and looked back at Duk Duk. There were things on him. Every so often his fur would rup and flutter like he itched but it was only the bugs and burrowers who had gotten under his skin. His eyes watched me like they knew something and said “watch us well Skunk, you will come to this in no time yourself!”

  Nik Nok and Disha held each other for a little bit, and they ignored me. But I watched them with bright Skunk eyes. I had began to know in words what was happening between them. It was not Democrazy, Democrazy was what lay in the ditch with Duk Duk.

  Chapter six the watcher in the dark

  About this time I prickled like we were being watched. I looked around but nothing and I decided I was jumpy being so far from the venture path. I said nothing but “please you two let us go.”

  We walked for a long time until it was full, comfortable dark and cold in the moon.

  At last Disha decided we should stop for the night, but it was more for Nik Nok I think than for me. “We are far away from bowl alley and there are marauders here” she said. I saw a hole across the hardground beneath writing words and I told her. “It says exon” she said.

  Disha investigated the hole first because she was the leader. It smelled like Rats and burn-juice. She had me ask them if it was alright if we stayed there for a mome, and they said they would ask their king.

  Chapter seven we all eat Cat food

  We left them to deleminate and stalked out like mighty hunters in search of food. I still had that same watchy feeling but I was too unsure to tell Disha yet.

  I let them in front and stayed behind as quiet as I could. Disha scented the air and cast about for something edible and catchable. We were away from the bowl alley so I knew anyone we caught we could eat (except not a Dog or a Boy or a Skunk of course).

  Nik Nok saw something before Disha smelled it, a flash of white on top of a wall on the other side of the hardground and we began to stalk.

  We sneaked from build to fall keeping to shadows and picking up our feet so as not to scuff.

  Disha slunk forward and Nik Nok clung to the black fur on her back. But he watched her not the prey, even I could see that. He watched her hard muscles flex and stretch beneath her sleek fur and watched her slink lower and lower to the ground invisible in the dark as the Winds of Law.

  I listened. Skunks can listen well. I heard Nik Nok’s breath catch in his throat as he felt her body beneath his hand. I smelled the same smell I make when the lady Skunks come into season.

  When we got across the hardground “split to the left and drive it towards me” Disha snuffled to Nik Nok. I crept away from them both and poked my head around the corner.

  It was a Cat fat and lazy licking himself, full and stuffed and paying no tensions to Progrets and the bitter world.

  Clever Nik Nok reached into his bag and found our best ball, took aim and beaned the Cat right where it counts.

  At first he flew into the air and screamed out “oh shit,” then he began to run for his life with Nik Nok pounding after and me behind them as fast as four Skunk legs could carry me.

  “Help! Do not eat me!” the Cat added for good measure but he did not turn around to see if we were agreeable to this suggestion.

  We chased him along the wall jumping over the stones and falls for he was fleeing for his very life. He tried to jump up a telephone tree but Nik Nok jumped up after him and he could climbor as well as the Cat and he jumped down again and ran down an alley for he was fleeing for his very life. Nik Nok disappeared after him and at once I heard a snarl and a Cat scream. When I poked an eye around the corner I saw Disha had the Cat cornered against the whitestone at the other end.

  “Oh please please do not eat me!” the Cat cried in terror as Disha padded closer. I smelled the water of his fear and saw his eyes wide and wet and almost I asked Disha to seize and desist, for Cats are nearly Skunks. But then I reminated I was hungry.

  “Why not eat you” she asked “you are an inferior being, to wit a Cat. Cats are made to be eaten.”

  “But I have a wife” argued the Cat “and she will have no one to provide for her if I am dead and eaten.”

  “Oh that is no problem just bring her here, and I shall solve her problem too!” retorted Disha.

  The Cat perked up at this suggestion which I would not have thought he would and suggested “very well, just let me go and I shall get her.” It seemed a reasonable request except of course I doubted his sincerity in returning, for you can never trust a Cat.

  “Not so fast Mr. Dinner” said Disha. “I would not have you tire yourself by walking all that way and all the way back. I think it is best if we avoid inconveniencing your wife and just eat you now.”

  Nik Nok and I had said nothing so far, for Disha was doing well on her own.

  “But surely you do not want to deplete the food supply” said the Cat, thinking furiously which is very out of character for a Cat “you should eat the aged and the sick not Cats like me in their prime who can still sire kittens.”

  “But if we do not eat you then we will die and I too can still whelp pups and Nik Nok can now sire children, so he tells me.”

  “But you must further the cause of Progrets and kill only the Cats who have not become smart.”

  “That would mean all of you” retorted Disha, thinking no doubt of Hanki and Yanki.

  “But surely you are not against Democrazy are you?”

  I worried because I reminated the looks that Disha and Nik Nok had given each other lately. But Disha just laughed all the time edging closer to the Cat. The Cat saw this and arched his back and hissed. He was fighting for his very life now.

  “If you were stupid enough to get caught” debated Disha “then killing you is Progrets!”

  “Yes it is eat or be eaten” said Nik Nok.

  The Cat could see his situation was now desperate and he tried one last gambol.

  “But you should not eat me for we are brothers, we fourlegs must all stick together in the city of the angels.”

  “So” said Disha with sudden anger “I shall eat you anyway because I am hungry, and that after all is the only real argument.” Then she rushed forward and caught the Cat who in the end did not even try to escape for he knew he was a goner.

  “Disha” asked Nik Nok, “why should we not eat our brothers?”

  Chapter eight Democrazy is violented

  “Good kill” I said, but nobody heard me. Nik Nok gave Disha a hug that was not entirely innocent I think.

  Nik Nok ran his hand gently over Disha’s soft fur, and watched with Raccoon eyes as her hard muscle
s underneath flexed and stretched as she tore and tugged at the Cat, getting him open.

  She chewed off a warm hindquarter, hesitated a moment and then laid it in his lap. “Here beautiful” she said “you take the first Cat cut.”

  He picked it up slowly, pulled the fur off and sunk his teeth in and tore off a juicy hunk.

  I slunk back into the shadows for I realized I was not wanted at this particle mome. But I watched for we Skunks have very good eyes.

  He chewed and held his hunk out to Disha, and she ate from the same piece. They looked into each other’s eyes and Disha put her paw on Nik Nok’s forearm and I heard the Boy panting like he was chasing something invisible.

  I was frightened. I knew this was not Democrazy and that the Winds of Law would blow across us for this.

  Fresh Cat has an effect, the meat is tangy without dipping it in the black specks and the blood sends a wild hair through the back of your jaw and makes you squint. This time it was dubbly so for the frightened Cat had pushed excitement through his whole body, I could smell it even from where I was. But they hungered for more than food even so.

  The Cat blood dripped down Nik Nok’s chin and he wiped it with his hand and held it out for Disha to lick. The kill smell was making even me excited, but I stayed in the shadows again for I love Progrets and Democrazy.

  He ripped a piece of catsmeat off the leg and offered the next bite to Disha, and moved closer and closer to her. He dipped his finger in the blood and drew a line with it along Disha’s head and down her nose.

  She licked his finger as he let it trail over her lips and all at once they did not even care about the Cat. They moved a little away and I darted forward and caught a piece. But I watched as I ate and I shivered wondering what the Winds of Law would feel like.

  Chapter nine for the strong of heart

  Disha began licking his throat and then his chest and his ling began to swell. I smelled the lady Dog smell. Nik Nok was shaking and gasping like he had run a race and Disha turned herself around and knelt her front legs down. “Gently” she said, “slowly do not rush it or you will hurt me.”