“I’ll trample all over your modern shit, motherfucker.” This was more than a threat. Many of us had brothers & sisters living here. We had wives & girlfriends. We had children. I wet my pants & checked for blood. None. Good. Wine was poured into cups & we danced. More & more people danced. We moved tables & chairs, but the bodies were closing over each other. We danced tight. We were framed by bodies. Trays of fish, baked clams, salads, oysters, potatoes, bowls of fruits, salsa, shrimp, everything was stepped on, thrown to the side, made way for. More dancing. The girls were beautiful. Each one had high heels & a skirt that intoxicated the drunks. I was one of the drunks. “Tell me something I don’t know.” I said. “I was born with six fingers & when I was a little girl I fucked men my father did business with. Friends of the family. I fucked like a dog. I raised my skirt to any smell.” I’ll tell you what happened. The dirty fucking beer jumped & spilled all over everything, her skirt, my pants, my faith, her virginity, a god damn shame. Horses whinnied & went up on their hind legs, but the taskmaster had his hand up their ass the whole time. Woe is me. That’s right, I prayed. Then & there. “It’s not enough to feel betrayed by God. Your brothers gave you to me.” I said. We danced. She put her hand on my crotch. I grew tight. What a bunch of sweet fucks I have arranged. Just then the ball was interrupted by the sound of a thousand horses in the courtyard. “We’re very wet. We are the analfuck people. We have come. Your place seems stale & empty. We offer fresh fruit & baked fish. Fuck’m. Over one hundred thousand years I waited. I am stiff. I smell like fish. Who are these people in my bed? I’m sorry, I can explain. You see, they are the analfuck people. When you fell asleep, they came. They changed everything. The architecture, the fields, the swamps, they put themselves up in paintings.” “& you believe in paintings?” “Yes. We do.” “Oh, sorry selves. Broken selves.” “No, wait. Please, there’s more. The girls are hiding. They provide meat & pleasure on demand.” “A thousand years I have slept, guarding gods, guarding their children. I have finally awoken.” For several weeks we suffered under these strange & terrible people. The ball continued, but the dances grew old & the music failed to stimulate us. I took a small knife from my boot & cut open the womb of a young girl. I removed the body of a child. She will be a queen. She will lead us away from this room. A dirty afternoon light spread out over the dancers. Men hid their weapons under the foods on the banquet table. I was terrified, but I followed our queen. Into battle. Into a fresh battle.
© 2003 – Gordy Amede
