Page 390 - Some Dance to Remember

360 Jack Fritscher

“Don’t threaten me with your Death,” Kick said. He folded his big
arms like a stern father across his chest.
“I’m not talking about our Deaths. I’m talking about our lives. I want
you to stay alive for very personal reasons.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Kick said. “I’ve always known what we’re
both doing. In the long and short run.”
“We’ve become, my love, and don’t think less of me for saying it,
fashionably dysfunctional. Sex, street life, drugs, denial. Our dedication
to each other has twisted into addiction.”
Kick, engaging his arsenal of southern charm, tried a seductive south-
ern smile. The redneck in him couldn’t quite manage the pose. His face
locked into a Look of hard, steroid-stubborn grin. He was surprised, the
way the exceptionally beautiful, who always get what they want, are sur-
prised when someone finally dares call their game up short.
Ryan was crossing the Mason-Dixon line where Northern values col-
lide with Southern.
Kick, figuring to push Ryan’s rebellion back to deference, armored his
voice with one of his surefire aphorisms that had always before reassured
Ryan. “We’re keeping on,” he said. “We’ll keep on keeping on.”
“I said I’d never say no to you, and now I am.” Ryan started to cry.
“Oh, damn!”
“This is hardly your style, Ry.”
“I don’t want a showdown.”
“I love you,” Kick said. “You love me. Leave well enough alone. What
more is there?”
“I want real communication.”
“Please don’t cry,” Kick said. “I’m not crying.”
“I can’t help it. I’m real. Look at me, Kick. I’m really real. Remember
what Alice said? ‘If I wasn’t real, I shouldn’t be able to cry.’ We have to
move from our fantasy level. We have to become real to each other.”
“I thought we promised never to become ordinary.”
“Real and ordinary aren’t the same thing. Something happens between
us when we’re together. It’s real. It’s not ordinary. You know what I mean.
You feel it, don’t you? You feel the Energy we conjure between us?”
“Why do you think I keep coming back for something I told you I
can’t get anywhere else?”
“I’ve never said no to you. I’ve given you no bounds, no limits. But we
have to have limits or we fall apart.”
“The game has changed, Ry. I’m going for the Mr. Cal. I have to take
steroids to be competitive. I want to turn professional.”

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