naked on caffeine. Historically, it’s been associated with people
putting their clotheson.”
“Are you going to get naked?” Martin asked him.
Colin put his cup down. “Listen, Marty,” he said, “I know you gay
guys think everybody is a fagcidentwaiting to happen, but just for
the record, I’m not the type to go ass-backwards.”
Martin stifled his laughter. “I meant…I was going to say that
perhaps you shouldn’t get naked. For your own sake, for the sake of
the party,” Martin pointed to the ballooning curve of Colin’s
abdomen, a vulgar monument to overindulgence. “And for the sake
of humanity.”
“Yeah, mon,” said Niles, “People want coffee, they go to a coffee
shop. They want to see elephants with their ass out, the go to the
zoo.”
“Fuck you guys,” Colin retorted, “Lots of people find me sexy.”
“Blind people,” Niles guessed.
“How do they find you?” Martin chuckled, “The stench?”
They turned their attention to Bennie, who passed them with a
bottle of rum and a jiggling brown slice of something horrible. The
three others watched as he lifted it to the lips of the wooden mask on
the wall, and then stuck it in its mouth. It was a raw rat liver. It
looked like San Simon had grown a tongue and he was sticking it out
at the world.
“Perfect,” said Bennie.
“Ghastly,” said Martin.
This time, instead of pouring a shot into San Simon’s mouth,
Bennie drank it himself and returned to the kitchen to check on
banana bread.
“No matter how fucked up I get tonight,” Colin pleaded, “Don’t
let me try that thing on.”
Three large men in black suits and black hats entered awkwardly
through the front door and everyone in the room turned excitedly to
see who the first guests were.
“I think your door is broken,” one of the black suits observed.
“It’s a door of perception,” Colin explained, “It just needs some
cleansing.”
“Where’s the Ethiopian?” he asked politely.
“Who wants to know?”
“Tell him it’s someone he met up the river,” the biggest of them
replied, grinning knowingly.
ABYSSINIA
46
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