Rasputin didnt stir. Reaching into a pocket. Wizard drew out a crumpled sack of popcorn fragments. He leaned forward to scatter a handful. Rasputin shifted slightly at the fluttering sound of pigeon wings as a dozen or so birds came immediately to the feed.
Dont let them damn pests be shitting on me, he warned Wizard laconically.
Wouldnt dream of it. Dont you think you should carry a radio or something?
What for? So folks would quit looking for my headphones?
Aint my fault they cant hear the real music. They too busy covering it up with their own noises.
Wizard nodded and threw another handful of popcorn. Rasputins hand danced lazily on the back of the bench. Muscles played smoothly under his sleek skin, sunlight played smoothly over it. The day arched above them, and Wizard could have dreamed with his eyes open. Instead, he asked, So what brings you to Pioneer Square?
My feet, mostly. Rasputin grinned feebly. Im looking for Cassie. Got a present for her. New jump rope song. Heard it just the other day.
Wizard nodded sagely. He knew Cassie collected jump rope songs and clapping rhymes. Lets hear it.
Rasputin shook his head slowly in a graceful counterpoint to the dance of his hand. A passerby slowed down to watch him, then scurried on. No way, man. Not going to repeat it here. Sounded new, and real potent in a way I dont like. Gonna tell it to Cassie, but Im not going to spread it around. Wont catch me fooling with magic not mine to do. Rasputins words took on the cadence of his concealed dance, becoming near a chant. Wizard had known him to speak in endless rhymes, or fall into the steady stamp of iambic pentameter when the muse took him. But today he broke out of it abruptly, the rhythm of his hand suddenly changing. A grin spread over his face slowly as he gestured across the square to where a woman in a yellow raincoat had just emerged from a shop.
See her? Walking like rain trickling down a window glass?
She makes loves in a waltz rhythm. A black hand waltzed on its fingertips on the bench between them. Wizard glanced from it to the tall, graceful woman crossing the square.
That doesnt seem possible, he observed after a perusal of her swinging stride.
The best things in this life are the ones that arent possible, my friend. Sides, would I lie to you? You dont believe me, you just go ask her. Just walk right on up and say, My friend Rasputin says you can make a mans eyes roll back in his head while your thighs play the Rippling River Waltz. You go ask her.
No thanks, Wizard chuckled softly. Ill take your word for it.
Dont have to, man. Shes one generous lady. Picked me up off the bus one rainy night, took me home and taught me to waltz horizontal. Kept me all night, fed me breakfast, and put me out with her cat when she left for work. Best night of my life.
You never went back?
Some things dont play well the second time around; only a fool takes a chance at ruining a perfect memory. Sides, I wasnt invited. Kinda lady she is, she does all the asking. All a man can say to her is yes, please and thank you kindly.
Thats all.
Wizard shifted uncomfortably on the bench. This kind of talk made him uneasy, stirring places in him better left dormant.
So youre looking for Cassie, he commented inanely, looking for a safer topic.
Rasputin gave a brief snort of laughter. Did I say that?
Stupid way to put it. No sense looking for her. No, Im just waiting to be found. Shell know I got something for her, and shell come to find me. Dont you know that about her by now?
Think on it. You ever been looking for Cassie and found her?
No. Just about the time you give up looking and sit down someplace, who finds you? Cassie. Aint that right?
Yeah. He chuckled slightly at the truth of it. So what you been doing lately?
I just told you. Getting laid, and listening to jump rope songs in the park- How bout you?
Wizard shrugged. Not much of anything. Little magics, mostly. Told a crying kid where hed lost his lunch money.
Went to visit Sylvester. Saw an old man hurting on a street corner. Asked him the time, the way to Pike Place Market, and talked about the weather until he had changed his mind about stepping in front of the next bus. Was standing in front of the Salvation Army Store and a man drove up and handed me a trenchcoat and a pair of boots. Boots didnt fit, so I donated them. Trenchcoat did, so I kept it. Listened to a battered woman on the public dock until she talked herself into going to a shelter instead of going home. Listened to an old man whose daughter wanted him to put his sixteen-year-old dog to sleep. Told him Bullshit! Old dog sat and wagged his tail at me all through it. Thats about all.
Rasputin was grinning and shaking his head slowly. What a life! How do you do it. Wizard?
I dont know, the other man replied in a soft, naive voice, and they both laughed together as at an old joke.
I mean, Rasputins voice was thick and mellow as warm honey, how you keep going? Look how skinny you getting lately! Bet Cassie dont appreciate that in the sack; be like sleeping with a pile of kindling.
Wizard shot Rasputin a suddenly chill look. I dont sleep with Cassie.
The big man wasnt taking any hints. No, I wouldnt either.
No time for sleeping with something that warm and soft up against you. You dont know how many times Euripides and I sat howling at the moon for her. Then you come along, and she falls into your lap. Her eyes get all warm when they touch you. First time she brought you to me, I saw it. Oh, oh, I say to myself, here come Cassie, mixing business with pleasure.
Now you telling me, oh, no. aint really nothing between us.
You sure you wouldnt be tolling me a lie? An easy, teasing question.
I dont do that. Wizards voice was ham.
Dont do what? Rasputin teased innocently. Screw or tell lies?
I tell lies only to stay alive. I tell the Troth when its on me. Ice and fire in his voice, warning the black wizard.
Say what? Rasputin sat up straight on the bench, and his fingers suddenly beat a dangerous staccato rhythm on the bench back. Wizard felt his strength gather in his shoulders and watched the play of muscles in the black hand and wrist on the bench back. He felt the edge and dragged himself back from it. This man was his friend. He forced his voice into a casual scale.
Say what? Rasputin sat up straight on the bench, and his fingers suddenly beat a dangerous staccato rhythm on the bench back. Wizard felt his strength gather in his shoulders and watched the play of muscles in the black hand and wrist on the bench back. He felt the edge and dragged himself back from it. This man was his friend. He forced his voice into a casual scale.
Remember who youre talking to, Rasputin. Im the man who knows the Truth about people, and when they ask me, Ive got to tell them. I have my own balancing points for my magic. One of them is that I dont touch women. I dont touch anyone.
That so? the black wizard asked skeptically. Wizard looked at him stony-eyed, You poor, stupid bastard, Rasputin said softly, more to himself than to his friend. Drawing the circle that shuts it out. He flopped back into his earlier, careless pose, but his dancing fingers jigged on the bench back, and Wizard felt his awareness digging at him.
The pigeons roared up suddenly around them, their frantically beating wings swishing harshly against Wizards very face. Cassie stood before them, slender and smiling. She was very plain today, dressed all in dove gray from her shoes to the softly draped cloth of her dress. Her hair was an unremarkable brown, her features small and regular. But when she flashed Wizard her smile, the blue voltage of her eyes stunned him. She proffered him a couple of gray tail feathers. Nearly had myself a pigeon pie for tonight, she teased, tossing the feathers in his face. Wizard winced, fearing there was more troth in her jest than he approved. Come on, she cajoled, sitting down between the men. If lions are majestic and wolves are noble and tigers are princely, whats so cruddy about a person who snags a few pigeons for a meal now and then?
She bent suddenly to wipe a smudge from her shoe. and Rasputin grabbed Wizards eyes over her bent back. Stupid shit! he mouthed silently at Wizard, but composed his face quickly as Cassie sat up between them. She gave her brown bobbed hair a shake, and the scent of wisteria engulfed Wizard and threatened to sweep him away. But she had fixed those eyes on Rasputin and pinned him to the bench. Give it to me! she demanded instantly.
Right here? His reluctance wasnt feigned. Its a heavy one, Cassie. Bad. I didnt like hearing it, and I don't like repeating it.
All the more reason I should have it. Out with it.
It was these two cute little girls, one in pigtails, down in Gas Works Park, and they were jumping rope, and I was hardly listening, cause they was doing all old ones, you know, like I like coffee, I like tea, I like boys, why dont they like me? andQueen Bee, come chase me, all around my apple tree..-
Oldies! Cassie snorted. Get to the good stuff.
It didnt sound so good to me. All of a sudden, one starts a new one. Scared the shit out of roe. Billy was a sniper. Billy got a gun. Billy thought killing was fun, fun, fun. How many slopes did Billy get? One, two. three, four Rasputins voice trailed off in a horrified whisper- Wizards nails dug into his palms. The day turned a shade grayer, and Cassie nibbled her hands as if they pained her.
It has to come out somewhere, Cassie sighed, ripping the stiff silence. All the horrors come out somewhere, even the ones no one can talk about. Look at child abuse. You know this one, so it doesnt bother you anymore. But think about it.
Down by the ocean, down by the sea, Johnny broke a bottle and blamed it on me. I told Ma, Ma told Pa, and Johnny got a licking with a ha, ha, ha! How many lickings did Johnny get? One, two, three, and on and on, for as long as little aster or brother can keep up with the rope. Or Ring around a Rooe that talks about burning bodies after a plague. Believe in race memory. It comes out somewhere.
When me bough breaks, the cradle will fall, whispered Wizard.