extraordinary boom. The electricity extinguished in the apartment
and as they sat together in a moment of darkness, Leona felt her
clothes begin to peel away like layers of dead skin.
She too was nude now, and the moisturizer slid slowly over her
body like a flood upon the face of the earth, the genius of Sprout’s
touch moving across the waters, making everything clean again.
As they laid together on the little island bed, brushing each other
lightly, intermittently sleeping and awake, they dipped now and
again into private female pools. No need for mannahere. Aesop and
Homer watched from a faraway hilltop, at a loss for words. The
fragrance of wild fruits clung to their fingers, and something else, the
original scent. The fruit came from an additive in the moisturizer, but
the original scent was not from Leona’s deodorant, despite its label.
She had bought it that same day, wondering what the “original scent”
actually was. Every deodorant on the shelf came in “original scent,”
but they were all different from each other. Now as she swam in a
saline world of tears and mermaid kisses she breathed in the most
original scent of all.
Leona dreamed that it was she that was trapped the water, not
Sprout, stuck there, unable to leave, pulled out to sea. All her friends
were standing on the shore, doing nothing to help her as she was
pulled farther and farther away from the land. The Anarkids showed
up on the beach with their pellet-guns. Roy kissed Sprout and the
guns started to fire, striking Leona along the neck, belly and thighs
but instead of blood, saltwater spurted out of the tiny circular
wounds opening up all over her body. She splashed around
frantically. Just as she was about to go under, a massive wooden ship
came sailing up alongside and tossed her a lifeline. The captain called
out from the stern, offering her the prospect of rescue, a chance at a
new life. She allowed herself to be pulled towards him.
She woke up to the caress of Sprout’s leg between hers. Soft
breaths in her ear sent shivers of pleasure down Leona’s strong spine,
loosening it like a monkey wrench. The tension in her arms and legs
came away and her flesh poured down upon the slender form beside
her.
“It was like you were swimming,” Sprout said. “It was like you
were drowning.”
Leona laid there for a moment, breathing heavily, then pulled
away from the bed. She walked slowly over to the panoramic bay
windows. The sun was coming up and the sea and sky were the same
ABYSSINIA
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