ceiling beam. He pressed his ear against an acrylic panel to overhear
what they were talking about.
“So, where’s the snake?” one of them asked, marveling at Leona’s
handiwork. “Somewhere in the garden,” Colin answered, “Slipping
out of his skin. Probably giving old Eve a good seeing to.”
“Crawling on his belly,” another of the Jews piped in jocularly.
Roy froze. Whomever they were, they were on to him. No thanks
to Colin!
“So where’s the forbidden fruit, then?” the big one said, looking
up at the ceiling painted with leaves and turgid red delicacies.
Roy tried to turn around, but slipped. His knee broke the
plasterboard and his body fell in a rather unfortunate way. The tall
Jew looked up and found himself eye to eye with Roy’s strange fruit.
It had punched its way through the brambles.
“What the…?” he said, his face covered with plaster dust.
Colin, realizing what had happened and not bothering to care
why, fell on the ground laughing. The Jews, befuddled, watched as
the penis extricated itself from the hole in the heavens and shuffled
back towards the bathroom.
“You don’t see that every day,” one said.
But Roy’s troubles weren’t over. The big knife from which Bennie
had disarmed the boy was still lodged in the ceiling, and everyone
watched helplessly as the shuffling sound drew near it.
“Roy! Nnnn!” Colin started to yell, but it was too late.
There was a sudden scream, a noisy tumble, and Roy’s entire
body this time came crashing through the flimsy panel, landing with
a scream and thud onto the floor.
He groaned and rolled over awkwardly, one hand on his bleeding
groin and the other on his bruised buttocks.
“Arrgghh,” he moaned.
“Listen, now,” one of the Jews said, “I’m a doctor. Let me look at
the wound.”
Roy gazed dizzily up at the strange threesome in front of him. He
had been expecting vicious goons. Not portly men whose idea of evil
included men and women dancing together. He reluctantly removed
his hand, afraid of what he might see. The doctor dabbed at the area
with a stack of napkins.
“Hey, Moishe,” the doctor said, “look at this.”
“Wow,” the tall one exclaimed.
“What? What is it?” Colin screamed. “Did he cut it off?”
ABYSSINIA
48
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