Page 392 - Some Dance to Remember

362 Jack Fritscher

you up in one of my stories. But I didn’t. You have a life of your own.”
“So do you.”
“I don’t want a life of my own.” Ryan threw his hands up. “What play
are we?” he asked. “We’re Six Characters in Search of an Author.”
Kick read Ryan literally. “What author?”
“God? Maybe God. I don’t know.”
“You’re the only author I know, Ry.” Kick hit the pose of his smile.
“Don’t look at me that way.”
“Why not?” he grinned.
“I won’t say what I have to say.”
“Sometimes,” Kick said, “the best thing to say is don’t say anything.”
“I sold my soul...”
“I told you I bought it back for you.”
“You see? You are responsible for my happiness. That makes me
responsible for yours.”
“So what are we talking about?”
“Muscle and more than muscle,” Ryan said. “You have the Gift. I
want you to have the knowledge of the Gift. You have strength. I want
you to have more than strength. I want you to have power. I want you to
be happy with the Gift you have. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“Hurt myself?”
“By gilding the lily. Taking steroids.”
“Do you love me?” Kick asked.
“You know I love you.”
“You know,” Kick said, “how I depend on your love.” He crossed the
room and put both his strong hands on Ryan’s shoulders.
“I love us,” Ryan said. “I love the Energy-Being we create between us.”
“So let’s keep on,” Kick said.
“I don’t know if I can.”
“We have to.” Kick turned droll and his drollness was threatening.
“How would we decide who gets custody of the Energy we create?”
Ryan retreated. He could not bear to lose title to that special place
outside space and time which he had only found with Kick. “I don’t want
to cause you pain.”
“No pain. No gain,” Kick said. “We can grow from this. We can keep
on keeping on.”
“Maybe we’re bad for each other.”
“We look good together,” Kick said. He kissed Ryan long and hard.
Nothing was going the way Ryan had planned. He wanted to say: Stop
the steroids. He wanted to say: Stay away from Castro. He wanted to say:

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