'Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 49~50\r'

'49\r\nThe Bedside Manner of suffernibals\r\n ruck up slept d champion most of the day, t here(predicate)fore woke up with a pot of c douree each over a spy novel. He looked at the address and his nerve centers drived win the pages for half an hour, save when he effect it down he had no idea what he had read. His mind was torn by the thought of Beth Curtis tapering up at his opening. Whenever a guard crunched crosswise the gravel compound, meet would go to the window to canvass if it was her. She wouldnt stupefy here during the day, would she?\r\nHe had promised Kimi that he would check on Sepie and meet him at the drinking circle, further now he was already a day late on the promise. What would overstep if Beth Curtis came to his bungalow composition he was come to the fore? She couldnt severalise the doc, could she? What would her excuse be for coming here? Still, ruck was beginning to think that the doc wasnt really the atomic number 53 running the show. He was merely skilled labor, and so, probably, was wear upon himself.\r\n knit looked at the pages of the spy novel, watched a lowly Malaysian television (today they were throwing spears at coconuts on top of a pole while the Asian credit line markets tickers sc involute at the bottom of the screen in thin-colored bands), and waited for nightfall. When he could no longer see the guards cause across the compound, he do a great show of yawning and stretching in calculate of the window, thence glowering out the informals, built the dummy in his nates, and slipped out through the bottom of the shower.\r\nHe took his popular path behind the clinic, then inched his way up on the far side and peeked roughly the front. non ten feet away a guard stood by the door. He ducked quickly a rotund the corner. There was no way into the clinic tonight. He could wait or plain try to intimidate the guard, now that he k in the alto get alongher they were apprehensive to sprout\r\nhim. O f course, he wasnt sure they knew they were afraid to shoot him. What if Mato was the provided one?\r\nHe slid pricker down the side of the building and through the coconut orchard to the beach. The swim had become like walking to the mailbox, and he was past the minefield in less than five minutes. As he rounded the curve of the beach, he adage a light and figures moving around it. The chisel men had brought a kerosene lamp to the drinking circle. How civilized.\r\n virtually of the men acknowledged his presence as he moved into the circle, but the quondam(a) chief alone stared into the spine between his feet. There was a tidy sum of magazines at his side.\r\nâ€Å"Whats spillage on, guys?”\r\nA panic prevail its way around the circle to land on Abo, who looked up and said, â€Å"Your friend is gap by the guards.”\r\nrapier waited, but Abo looked away. pull together jumped in front of Malink. â€Å"Chief, is he spoting the truth? Did they shoot Kimi? I s he dead?”\r\nâ€Å"Not dead,” Malink said, shaking his head. â€Å"Hurt real bad.”\r\nâ€Å"Take me to him.”\r\nâ€Å"He is at Sarapuls house.”\r\nâ€Å"Right. Ill look it up in the guidebook posterior. Now take me to him.”\r\n sr. Malink shook his head. â€Å"He going to die.”\r\nâ€Å"Where is he accident?”\r\nâ€Å"In the water by the minefield.”\r\nâ€Å"No, numbnuts. Where on his personify?”\r\nMalink held his plenty to his side. â€Å"I say, ‘Take him to the wiz, but Sarapul say, ‘The wizard shoot him.” Malink then looked rapier in the eye for the initial time. His grown brown face was a study in trouble. â€Å"Vincent send you. What do I do?”\r\n foregather could sense a sonorous embarrassment in the one-time(a) man. He had scarcely admitted in front of the men in his tribe that he didnt concord a clue. The loss of face was gnawing at him like a hungry sand crab.\r\n introduce said, â€Å"Vincent is pleased with your decision, Malink. Now I essential see Kimi.”\r\nOne of the young Vincents stood up. Feeling genuinely brave, he said, â€Å"I volition take you.”\r\n slip in grab strike out his shoulder. â€Å"Youre a good man. Lead on.”\r\nThe young Vincent seemed to impede to breathe for a moment, as if tuck had affected him on the shoulders with a sword and welcomed him to a office at the Round Table, then he came to his\r\nsenses and took off into the jungle. rumple followed mean behind, nearly clotheslining himself a bracing of times on branches that the young Vincent ran even out nether. The red coral gravel on the path tore at Tucks feet as he ran.\r\nWhen they emerged from the jungle, Tuck could see a light coming out of Sarapuls hut, which Tuck accept from his day in the white shark tree. He turned to young Vincent, who was terrified. He had charged the dragon, but had make the mistake of stopping to think about it.\r\nâ€Å"Kimis with the great white shark?”\r\nYoung Vincent nodded rapidly while bouncing from grounding to foot, looking like he would wet himself all second.\r\nâ€Å"Go on,” Tuck said. â€Å"Go tell Malink to come here. And adjudge a drink. Youre wigging out.”\r\nVincent nodded and ran off.\r\nTuck approached the door slowly, creeping up until he could see the antiquated man crouched over Kimi, trying to pour roughthing into his sassing from a coconut cup.\r\nâ€Å"Hey,” Tuck said, â€Å"hows he doing?”\r\nSarapul looked around and gestured for Tuck to enter the house. Tuck had to bend to outwit through the low door, but once deep down the ceiling opened to a fifteen-foot peak. Tuck knelt by Kimi. The navigators eyes were closed, and even in the orange light of Sarapuls oil lamp, he looked pale. He was uncovered and a bandage was wrapped around his middle.\r\nâ€Å"Did you do this?” Tuck asked Sarapul.\r\nThe senior man-eating shark nodded. â€Å"They shoot him in water. I pull him in.”\r\nâ€Å"How m either times?”\r\nSarapu held up a long exercise set finger.\r\nâ€Å"Both sides? Did it go through?” Tuck gestured with his fingers on either side of his hip joint.\r\nâ€Å"Yes,” Sarapul said.\r\nâ€Å"let me see.”\r\nThe old croupenibal nodded and unwrapped Kimis bandage. Tuck rolling the navigator gently on his side. Kimi groaned, but didnt wake. The lick had hit him about two inches in a higher place the hip and about an inch in. It had passed right though, going in the size of a pencil and exiting the size of a draw. Tuck was amazed that he hadnt bled to death. The old cannibal had done a good job.\r\nâ€Å"Dont take him to the Sorcerer,” Sarapul said. â€Å"The Sorcerer impart kill him. He is the only navigator.” The old cannibal was pleading while trying to anticipate fierce. A sob betrayed him. â€Å"He is my friend.”\r\nTuc k analyse the wound to evanesce the old cannibal a chance to gather himself. He couldnt remember any vital organs be in that area. entirely the wounds would have to be stiched shut. Tuck wasnt sure he had the stomach for it, but Sarapul was right. He couldnt take Kimi to Curtis.\r\nâ€Å"Do you guys have anything you use to kill pain?”\r\nThe cannibal looked at him quizzically. Tuck pinched him and he yelped. â€Å"Pain. Do you have anything to stop pain?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes. Dont do that any more than.”\r\nâ€Å"No, for Kimi.”\r\nSarapul nodded and went out into the dark. He returned a few seconds later with a glass jug half-full of milky liquid. He pass on it to Tuck. â€Å"Kava,” he said. â€Å"It make you no ouch.”\r\nTuck uncapped the bottle and a smell like preparedness cabbage assaulted his nostrils. He held his breath and took a big slug of the stuff, suppressed a gag, and swallowed. His mouth was instantaneously numb. â€Å"Wow, t his ought to do it. I need a harass and some thread and some hot water. And some alcohol or peroxide if you have it.”\r\nSarapul nodded. â€Å"I put Neosporin on him.”\r\nâ€Å"You know about that? wherefore am I doing this?”\r\nSarapul shrugged and left the house. Evidently, he didnt economise anything inside but his skinny old ass.\r\nKimi let outed and Tuck roll him over. The navigators eyes fluttered open.\r\nâ€Å"Boss, that mouse tick off fucker shot me.”\r\nâ€Å"Curtis? The aged(a) white guy?”\r\nâ€Å"No. Japanese domestic dog fucker.” Kimi drew his finger across his scalp in a line and Tuck knew exactly who he meant.\r\nâ€Å"What were you doing, Kimi? I told you that Id check on Sepie and meet you.” Tuck felt a pleasant numbness moving into his limbs. This kava stuff would definitely do the trick.\r\nâ€Å"You didnt come. I worry for her.”\r\nâ€Å"I had to fly.”\r\nâ€Å"Sarapul say those people rea lly bad. You should come live here, boss.”\r\nâ€Å"Be quiet. Drink this.” He held the jug to Kimis lips and tipped it up. The navigator took a sip and Tuck let him rest earlier administering another(prenominal) dose.\r\nâ€Å"That stuff tremendous,” Kimi said.\r\nâ€Å"Im going to stitch you up.”\r\nThe navigators eyes went wide. He took the jug from Tuck and gulped from it until Tuck ripped it out of his hands. â€Å"It wont be that bad.”\r\nâ€Å"Not for you.”\r\nTuck grinned. â€Å"Havent you heard? Ive been sent here by Vincent.”\r\nâ€Å"That what Sarapul say. He say he dont swear in Vincent until we come, but now he do.”\r\nâ€Å" genuinely?”\r\nSarapul came through the door with an armload of supplies. â€Å"I dont say that. This dog fucker lies.”\r\nTuck shook his head. â€Å"You guys were made for each other.”\r\nSarapul zeal down a sewing kit and a bottle of peroxide, then crouched over the na vigator and looked up at Tuck. â€Å"Can you fix him?”\r\nTuck grinned and grab get along the old cannibal by the cheek. â€Å"Yum,” Tuck said.\r\nâ€Å"Sorry,” Sarapul said.\r\nâ€Å"Ill fix him,” Tuck said. Silently he asked for help from Vincent.\r\nâ€Å"I cant olfactory sensation my arms,” Kimi said. â€Å"My legs, where are my legs? Im end.”\r\nSarapul looked at Tuck. â€Å"Good,” he said. â€Å"More kava.”\r\nTuck picked up the jug, now only a quarter full. â€Å"This is great stuff.”\r\nâ€Å"Im dying,” Kimi said.\r\nTuck rolled the navigator over on his side. â€Å"Kimi, did I tell you I axiom Roberto?”\r\nâ€Å"See, I didnt eat him,” Sarapul said.\r\nâ€Å"Where?” Kimi asked.\r\nâ€Å"He came to my house. He talked to me.”\r\nâ€Å"You lie. He only speak Filipino.”\r\nâ€Å"He learned English. Can you feel that?”\r\nâ€Å"Feel what? I am dying?”\r\nâ₠¬Å"Good,” Tuck said and he laid his first off stitch.\r\nâ€Å"What Roberto say? He mad at me?”\r\nâ€Å"No, he said youre dying.”\r\nâ€Å"Im dying, Im dying,” Kimi wailed.\r\nâ€Å"Just kidding. He didnt say that. He said youre probably dying.” Tuck kept Kimi talking, and before long the navigator was so convinced of his draw close death he didnt notice that Tucker Case, self-taught incompetent, had altogether stitched and dressed his wounds.\r\n50\r\nDon Quixote at the Miniature Golf Course\r\nHe was sleeping, envisage of flying, but not in a plane. He was soaring over the warm Pacific above a pod of hump-back whales. He swooped in close to the waves and one of the whales breached, winked at him with a football-sized eye, and said, â€Å"You da man.” accordingly the whale smiled and blew the dream all to hell, for while Tuck knew himself to indeed â€Å"be da man” and while he didnt mind being told so, he to a fault knew that w hales couldnt smile and that bit of illogic above all the others broke the dreams back. He woke up. There was music vie in his bungalow.\r\nâ€Å"Dance with me, Tucker,” she said. â€Å"Dance with me in the moonlight.”\r\nThe fluid muted horns of â€Å"Moonlight Serenade” filled the agency from a portable boom box on his coffee table. Beth Curtis, wearing a sequined change surface gown and high-heeled sandals, trip the light fantastic toed an imaginary partner around the room. â€Å"Oh, dance with me, Tucker. Please.”\r\nShe glided over to the bed and held her hand out to him. He gave her the coconut mans head, rolled over, and ducked chthonian the sheet. â€Å"Go away. Im degenerate and youre insane.”\r\nShe sat on the bed with a bounce. â€Å"You old stick in the mud.” A pouty voice now. â€Å"You never command to have any romance.”\r\nTuck misrepresent sleep. Pretty wellhead, he thought.\r\nâ€Å"I brought champagne and candles. And I made cookies.”\r\nThis is me sleeping, Tuck thought. This is exactly how I cause when I sleep.\r\nâ€Å"I twisted up a joint of skunky green bud the size of your dick.”\r\nâ€Å"I hope you got help carrying it,” he said, still under the covers.\r\nâ€Å"I rolled it on the inside of my thigh the way the women in Cuba roll cigars.”\r\nâ€Å"Dont tell me how you cream the paper.”\r\nShe slapped him on the bottom. â€Å"Come on, dance with me.”\r\nHe rolled over and pulled the sheet off his face. â€Å"Youre not going to go away, are you?”\r\nâ€Å"Not until you dance with me and have some champagne.”\r\nTuck looked at his watch. â€Å"Its five in the morning.”\r\nâ€Å"Havent you ever danced till dawn?”\r\nâ€Å"Not vertically.”\r\nâ€Å"Oh, you nasty boy.” Coy now, as if anything short of being caught at genocide could make her blush. The song changed to something slow and fulsome that Tuck didnt recognize.\r\nâ€Å"This is such a good song. Lets dance.” She swooned. She truly swooned. Swooning, Tuck noticed, looked very much like an asthma attack wheezed in slow motion. A prick crowed, and seven thousand six hundred and 52 roosters responded in turn.\r\nâ€Å"Beth, its morning. Please go home.”\r\nâ€Å"Then youre not going to dance with me?”\r\nâ€Å"No.”\r\nâ€Å"All right, I regard well skip the dancing, but I want you to know that Im very disappointed.” She stood up, pulled the evening gown over her head, and dropped it to the floor. The sequins sizzled against the floor like a dying rattlesnake. She wore only stockings underneath.\r\nTuck said, â€Å"I dont think this is such a good idea,” but there was no doctrine in his voice and she pushed him back on the bed.\r\nTuck was staring up at the ceiling, his arm pinned under her eff, silently mouthing his mantra, â€Å"After this, I will not bone the sick woman. After this, I will not bone the frantic woman. After…” Boy, how numerous times had he said that? Maybe things were acquire better, though. In the past it had always been â€Å"I will not get drunk and bone the crazy woman.” He had been only sleepy this time.\r\nHe time-tested to worm his arm out from under her, then used the â€Å"old snuggle method.” He rolled into her for a hug and when she responded with a sleepy moan and tried to kiss him, the space under her neck opened up and he was free. It worked as well on murdering bitch goddesses as it did on bloody shame Jean ladies. Better even, Beth\r\ndidnt wear near as much hair spray, which can slow a guy down. God, Im good.\r\nHe rolled out of bed and crept into the bathroom. While he peed, he softly chanted, â€Å"Yo, subsequently this, I will not bone the crazy woman.” It had taken on a rap meter and he was feeling very hip along with the usual self-loathing. His scars made him think of Kim is wound, and suddenly he was angry. He padded naked back to the bed and jostled the sleeping icon. â€Å"Get up, Beth. Go home.”\r\nAnd someone pounded on the door. â€Å"Mr. Case, tee time in five.”\r\nTuck clamped his hand over Beths mouth, lifted her by her head in a single sweeping move from the bed to the bathroom, where he released her and shut the door. Fred Astaire, had he been a terrorist, would have been proud of the move.\r\nTuck grabbed his pants off the floor, which is where he kept them, pulled them on, and answered the door. Sebastian Curtis had a driver slung over his shoulder. â€Å"You energy want to put on a shirt, Mr. Case. You can get burned, even this early.”\r\nâ€Å"Right,” Tuck said. He was looking at the caddie. Today Stripe carried the purchase orders. The guard sneered at him. Tuck smiled back. Stripe, like Mato before him, was doing caddie trade unarmed. Time to play a little round for the navigator, he thought. He winked at Stripe.\r\nâ€Å"Ill be right there.” Tuck closed the door and went to the bathroom to tell Beth to wait until hed gone before coming out, but when he opened the door, she was gone.\r\nâ€Å"Did you know that over cardinal percent of all the endangered species are on islands?” the doctor said.\r\nâ€Å"Nope,” Tuck said. He picked his ball up and put it on the rubberized mat, then turned to Stripe. â€Å"Dopey, give me a five iron.”\r\nThey were on the fourth sea dog and had crisscrossed the compound pretending to play golf game for an hour. Tuck swung and skidded the ball fifty yards across the gravel. â€Å"Heads up, Bashful,” Tuck said as he threw the club back to Stripe.\r\nâ€Å"Islands are like evolutionary pressure cookers. modern species pop up faster and go dead more quickly. It works the same way with religions.”\r\nâ€Å"No kidding, Doc?” They still had fifty yards to get to where Sebastians first shot lay. Tuck had h it three times.\r\nâ€Å"The clog cults have all the same events associated with the great reli-gions: a period of oppression, the rise of a Messiah, a new order, the promise of an endless time of peace and prosperity. unless preferably of devel-oping over centuries like Christianity or Buddhism, it happens in skilful a few years. Its fascinating, like being able to see the hands of the clock move right before your eyes and be a part of it.”\r\nâ€Å"So you must totally get off when daylight savings time comes around.”\r\nâ€Å"It was just a metaphor, Mr. Case.”\r\nâ€Å"Call me Tuck.” They had reached Tucks ball and he rigid it on the Astro Turf mat. â€Å"Sneezy, give me the driver.”\r\nSebastian cleared his throat. â€Å"That looks more like a nine iron to me. Youve only got fifty yards to the pin.”\r\nâ€Å"Trust me, Doc. I need a driver for this one.”\r\nStripe snickered and handed him the driver. Tuck examined it, one of th e large-headed alloy models that had become so popular in the States †all metal. Tuck grinned at Stripe. â€Å"So, Doc, I guess you shitcanned the Meth-odist thing to watch the clock spin.” Tuck run along up the shot and took a practice swing. The club whooshed through the air.\r\nâ€Å"Have you ever had religion in anything, Mr. Case?”\r\nTuck took another practice swing. â€Å"Me? reliance? Nope.”\r\nâ€Å"Not even your own abilities?”\r\nâ€Å"Nope.” Tuck made a show of lining up the shot again and making sure his hips were loose.\r\nâ€Å"Then you shouldnt make jokes about it.”\r\nâ€Å"Right,” Tuck said. He tensed and put his entire weight behind the club, but instead of hitting the ball, he swung it around like a baseball bat, slamming the head into Stripes cheek, shattering the bone with a sickening thwack. The guards feet went out from under him and he get with a crunch in the coral.\r\nâ€Å"Christ!” Sebastian yelled. He grabbed the club and wrenched it from Tucks grasp. â€Å"What in the hell are you doing?”\r\nTuck didnt answer. He bent over the guard until he was only inches from his face and whispered, â€Å"Fore, motherfucker.”\r\nA second later Tuck heard a mechanical click and the guard who had been tending the pin had an Uzi pressed to his ear.\r\nSebastian Curtis was bent over Stripe, pulling his eyes open to see if his pupils would contract. â€Å"Take Mr. Case to his bungalow\r\nand stay with him. send off two men with a stretcher and start Beth. Tell her to †” Curtis suddenly realized that the guard was only getting about a third of what he said. â€Å"Bring my wife.”\r\nâ€Å"Ill get back to you on that faith thing, Doc,” Tuck said.\r\n'