Читать книгу Bone of My Bones - Cynthia Gaw - Страница 6

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

—Genesis 3:16

Drew came in through the walkout basement door of a fraternity house on Clement Street. He knew the guy sitting at the little Formica table was not a student, and that his name was not “Joe”; but he had been highly recommended by his older brother, John, who was experienced in these matters. A quick glance told Drew that “Joe” had all things necessary in this basement. A locked built-in cabinet, a shelf with unused steel-wool and an unopened box of sandpaper sitting next to a well-used can of paint stripper, a Victorian dining chair needing refinishing, and an old laundry sink completed the scene. The odd tools, camping equipment, tennis rackets, golf clubs, and many pieces of luggage held their obvious and legitimate place in storage. Drew sat down at the table across from Joe and pulled out his wallet.

Joe said, “My work is guaranteed, but your girlfriends must be between one hundred twenty and one hundred fifty pounds. Make sure they are ‘good girls’ with absolutely no alcohol or drugs onboard. Mix this with two quarts of orange juice and two quarts of 7-Up, both cold. Float some lemon slices for insurance. Fifteen minutes from consuming four ounces of the substance, they are yours. Unconsciousness is possible between twenty and thirty minutes, but they will come back about forty minutes from consumption. Return them to the place of consumption by that time. By forty-five minutes they will be with it, but not feeling all that great. You hope they want to go home and take a nap. For if they fall asleep, they won’t wake up until past time for detection in urine.” Drew handed Joe four crisp one hundred dollar bills. Joe handed Drew a bottle like one he had seen many times in the “Colds” section at his pharmacy. It read “Sterile Saline Nasal Relief Spray.” In smaller lettering, he saw “Clears Congestion without Medicine.” Drew left the basement less than two minutes from entering it with the distilled curse in his hand.