And here her thoughts ended, because Mia had twisted her arms up behind her and oh dear God the pain was enormous.
Ain't you just the most babyish cunt,Detta said with a kind of genial, panting contempt, and before Susannah could reply, an amazing thing happened: the world ripped open like a brittle piece of paper. This rip extended from the dirty cobbles of the allure's floor to the nearest merlon and then on up into the sky. It raced into that star-shot firmament and tore the crescent moon in two.
There was a moment for Susannah to think that this was it, one or both of the final two Beams had snapped and the Tower had fallen. Then, through the rip, she saw two women lying on one of the twin beds in room 1919 of the Plaza - Park Hotel. Their arms were around each other and their eyes were shut. They were dressed in identical bloodstained shirts and bluejeans. Their features were the same, but one had legs below the knee and straight silky hair and white skin.
"Don't you mess with me!" Mia panted in her ear. Susannah could feel a fine, tickling spray of saliva. "Don't you mess with me or with my chap. Because I'm stronger, do you hear?I'm stronger! "
There was no doubt about that, Susannah thought as she was propelled toward the widening hole. At least for now.
She was pushed through the rip in reality. For a moment her skin seemed simultaneously on fire and coated with ice. Somewhere the todash chimes were ringing, and then -
Six
- she sat up on the bed. One woman, not two, but at least one with legs. Susannah was shoved, reeling, to the back. Mia in charge now. Mia reaching for the phone, at first getting it wrong-way-up and then reversing it.
"Hello? Hello!"
"Hello, Mia. My name is - "
She overrode him. "Are you going to let me keep my baby? This bitch inside me says you're not!"
There was a pause, first long and then too long. Susannah felt Mia's fear, first a rivulet and then a flood.You don't have to feel that way, she tried to tell her.You're the one with what they want, with what they need,don't you see that?
"Hello, are you there? Gods,are you there? PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE STILL THERE! "
"I'm here," the man's voice said calmly. "Shall we start again, Mia, daughter of none? Or shall I ring off until you're feeling...a little more yourself?"
"No! No, don't do that, don't do that I beg!"
"You won't interrupt me again? Because there's no reason for unseemliness."
"I promise!"
"My name is Richard P. Sayre." A name Susannah knew, but from where? "You know where you need to go, don't you?"
"Yes!" Eager now. Eager to please. "The Dixie Pig, Sixty-first and Lexingworth."
"Lexington," Sayre said. "Odetta Holmes can help you find it, I'm sure."
Susannah wanted to screamThat's not my name! She kept silent instead. This Sayre would like her to scream, wouldn't he? Would like her to lose control.
"Are you there, Odetta?" Pleasantly teasing. "Are you there, you interfering bitch?"
She kept silent.
"She's in there," Mia said. "I don't know why she's not answering, I'm not holding her just now."
"Oh, I thinkI know why," Sayre said indulgently. "She doesn't like that name, for one thing." Then, in a reference Susannah didn't get: " 'Don't call me Clay no more, Clay my slave name, call me Muhammad Ali!' Right, Susannah? Or was that after your time? A little after, I think. Sorry. Time can be so confusing, can't it? Never mind. I have something to tell you in a minute, my dear. You won't like it very much, I fear, but I think you should know."
Susannah kept silent. It was getting harder.
"As for the immediate future of your chap, Mia, I'm surprised you'd even feel it necessary to ask," Sayre told her. He was a smoothie, whoever he was, his voice containing exactly the right amount of outrage. "The King keeps his promises, unlike some I could name. And, issues of our integrity aside, think of thepractical issues! Who else should have the keeping of perhaps the most important child to ever be born...includingChrist,including Buddha,including the Prophet Muhammad? To who else's breast, if I may be crude, would we trust his suck?"
Music to her ears,Susannah thought dismally.All the things she's been thirsting to hear. And why? Because she is Mother.
"You'd trust him to me!" Mia cried. "Only to me, of course! Thank you!Thank you!"
Susannah spoke at last. Toldher not to trusthim. And was, of course, roundly ignored.
"I'd no more lie to you than break a promise to my own mother," said the voice on the phone. (Did you ever have one, sugar?Detta wanted to know.) "Even though the truth sometimes hurts, lies have a way of coming back to bite us, don't they? The truth of this matter is you won't have your chap for long, Mia, his childhood won't be like that of other children, normal children - "
"I know! Oh, I know!"