85 THE SONGS OF SALOME
Sweet Savor
The explanation of my meeting with Laluna and Barker did not cause Palmer to temper his inquisition. Thinking always of my Persephone, I continued my account.
After his morning run on the day of the party, Alchemy stopped at my cottage and plaintively explained again that he and Laluna needed time alone and away. While they were gone, I might not be able to stay in my cottage or in the main house. He said Persephone would be staying elsewhere. I asked with who. He acted as if he hadn’t heard that Laluna and I had already argued about it. He did make it clear that when they returned, he and Laluna preferred if we’d all talk civilly about a possible alternative living situation for me.
“And you passively agreed to that?” Palmer asked.
“Laluna owned his balls. That trumps all other weapons.”
Through the screen, I felt Palmer’s condemnation. “When we first talked, you admitted that you gave Moses a hat when he came to your studio. Why’d you do that?”
“A lot about that day is hazy.” I’d made a mistake with that admission. Too late.
“It seems so. Why’d you give it to him?”
“An impulsive act.”
“So we agree that you are susceptible to impulsive acts. Given that your fingerprints and DNA were found on the weapon, perhaps shooting your son was another of your impulsive and hazily remembered acts.”
He didn’t pose that as a question.
“I didn’t shoot my son. I didn’t. Lots of people’s fingerprints and DNA must’ve been on it. Moses. Laluna. Alchemy. Mindswallow. Fuck you, Palmer, that’s it. Until I see Persephone, we are done.”
“Yes, now about Persephone and Moses—”
“There is nothing to say about them. Nothing.”
I couldn’t tell Palmer that I gifted Moses Greta’s hat as an act of mourning, and also relief, because I sensated cancer cells growing inside him. Yes, cancer has a very particular smell. I sensated that Moses would soon die and Alchemy would be saved.
86 THE MOSES CHRONICLES (2018)
Enormous Changes
With both Moses and Jay too drunk to drive, and Jay feeling queasy, they climbed the stairs to the second floor. They passed Persephone’s room and headed toward an open door at the far end of the hall. The lone double bed was untouched. No suitcases from possible overnight visitors. They entered. Jay used the adjoining bathroom. Moses checked his phone, which had been vibrating. He opened an e-mail marked “Urgent” from a Nightingale media watcher. Moses pressed the link and the screen opened to TMZ. One of their “correspondents” had staked out the Topanga Canyon Boulevard entrance to the Alchemy compound and posted a video “interview” with Crouse. He stuck his head out the window of the Mercedes to answer questions.
“Jack, Jack, how was the party?”
“The Super Bowl party is super. The Nightingale Party is a disaster. Alchemy is a brilliant rock star and a lousy politician. He asked me to join him in supporting the California secession movement. How silly is that? Love the guy, but he should stay out of politics and stick to music and … very young girls.”
“Stay tuned.”
Moses forwarded it to Alchemy with a note: “You were right.”
“Please put that away.” Jay parachuted onto the bed. Moses lifted one leg to the edge of the bed and balanced himself with the other against the floor. Jay rubbed his back. “There was more,” she said, her words slurring slightly. “I screwed up. Laluna, I think, I’m not sure, but maybe, somehow she didn’t know about you and Persephone. Now she knows.”
Too dispirited and anxious to react beyond frustration, he simply sighed. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m pretty sure that Alchemy lied to her, and to you. What’s this?” Jay pulled the beret from his back pocket.
His phone rang. Laluna’s name flashed on the screen. “No, Moses. Please.” Jay patted down her hair and pulled the beret onto her head. “Fits.”
He didn’t want to talk about his mother. Not yet.
“Let me”—glassy-eyed and grinning, she snatched his phone, turned it off, dropped it on the floor, lay back, and reached to tug him down on top of her—“satiate … you …”
Years before, Jay’s jesting words could have spurred jealousy or despair. No more. Moses thought, Sure, why the hell not?
87 THE SONGS OF SALOME
The Not So Long Goodbye
After my reborn son’s intrusion, the eviscerating, unseen light was drawing me to the dark matter. I dug a small fire pit behind my cottage. I lit some scrap paper and twigs. I gathered up photos of Art Is Dead and the Teumer Baddist Boys collages and carried them outside. I didn’t hear Alchemy until he stood beside me.
“Mom, what are you doing?”
“I had a visitor.”
“I saw.” The belated rampaging of Gravity Disease had transformed his effervescent blue orbs into wary slits encumbered by sadness. His delicate, unblemished skin turned blotchy and rough-hewn. “Mom, you don’t have to burn them.”
“You never conveyed my offer for a family get-to-know-you session? How can you let Persephone stay with him instead of me? Why, Alchemy why?”
“It doesn’t matter now. After tonight, you won’t have to worry about him staying here while we’re away or his coming here to visit.”
“Is he sick again? I inhaled a serious case of Gravity Disease.”
He didn’t answer. “Mom, don’t fret. It’s all taken care of.” Alchemy picked up the pieces and placed them in the studio. He returned and scooped some dirt, and we watched the fire die before it really got started. “I love you, Mom.”
I thought, In the end, he couldn’t betray me. I was so pleased.
“Got to say goodbye to the last people cleaning up and then tuck Persephone into bed.” He turned to leave.
“Kiss her good night for me. Tell her I’ll come to see her in the morning.”
88 THE MOSES CHRONICLES (2018)
Strange Interlude
After their twilight frolic, Moses and Jay both conked out. Down the hall, Alchemy finished reading Persephone a bedtime story. He clasped her tiny hand tightly in his. “Perse, honey, Mommy and I are going on a trip very soon. Uncle Mose and Auntie Jay will take care of you. Would you like that?”
“Yes.”
“Mommy and I will call you every day.”
“What about Granmamma? Is she going?”
“No, just Mommy and I. Granmamma is going on her own vacation.”
Perse’s bottom lip drooped sulkily. Alchemy tickled it with his pointer finger. “Daddy, d-on-on’t …”
“We’ll be back sooner than you can sing, ‘Petra Sansluv found her pearls.’ ”
“More.”
“ ‘At the bottom of the Black Sea / if you climb the Black Pearl tree / you can make a wish / to the Pearl Tree fish …’ ”
Persephone’s eyelids shut. Her lips formed into a smile, her breathing soft and peaceful.
Moses’s head snapped forward. He sat up. Head between pillows, Jay snored away. Grabbing his clothes, he dressed in the bathroom and turned on his phone. There were two missed calls from Laluna, an e-mail from Sidonna Cherry to him and Alchemy, and a follow-up from Alchemy, which now included Lux, Dooley, Warfield, and Pullham-Large with the subject: Defcon 1. This will drop at midnight unless we can stop it.