terribly sad over her breakup with Roy and in need of tenderness,
even if it had to be from him.
“A hundred thousand dollars,” he said.
“Fuck you, Colin.”
“No, I was thinking about a hundred thousand dollars. If we
could get a hundred thousand dollars, we could hire a public
relations firm to do an exposé on the company.”
“Oh. Right,” Leona said heavily. She stared at Colin, on the verge
of asking him for a hug. This made her nauseous. The sudden plunge
from loving Roy to contemplating Colin made her feel as if she was
falling down an elevator shaft. He now caught her eye. Was he really
so awful?
“Where’s my penny?” he demanded.
“Fuck you,” she replied, getting up off her stool.
“Indian giver,” he called after her.
Yak and the boy came in through the low doorway and sat at a
table. Leona couldn’t believe the same beaten and bedraggled figure
who caused an unholy ruckus some weeks ago had returned, escorted
by the ever-patient Yak.
“You,” Leona said. “Yak…?” she said, holding up her hands in a
gesture of bewilderment. Yak signaled with the opposite gesture that
it was okay. This time there would be no tantrums, knives or
ambulances. What Yak didn’t know was that what there would be,
would be a lot worse.
“You wear a lot of crystals,” the boy said to her, setting fire to a
fresh cigarette.
“Yes,” Leona conceded the obvious, “It’s an energy thing.”
“Energy,” he said, “You mean it takes a lot of energy to carry a
bunch of rocks around your neck.”
Leona glowered. “Crystals are the most organized structures in
nature. They store energy and pass it on to the wearer.”
“Yeah?” he blew out a thick stream of smoke, “Then why don’t
they run cars on them if they’re so powerful?”
“I’m not going to have this conversation,” she said, flashing Yak
an angry glance, “There are things you can’t understand with mere
logic.”
“Bullshit,” he raised his voice, “That’s the oldest cop-out in the
world. That’s just a pill people take to make eternity more palatable.
To make consciousness more cozy. To take the edge off the world.”
“Get him out of here, Yak,” she said, pointing to the door.
ABYSSINIA
148
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