Moira Young

“They call me the Angel of Death.”

“They call me the Angel of Death.That’s because I ain’t never lost a fight.”

“I'm gonna hafta kiss you, Jack, I says.I wish you would, he says.”

“The lies that lurk in the shadows of truth.”

“He’ll banish the shadows. He’ll silence the whispers. An the wounds of my soul will heal.”

“He looked to the sky for answers. I look at what's in front of me, what's around me, what's inside of me.”

“Be careful, Angel, he says. When you stare at a man like that, he’s likely to git any number of number of … innerestin ideas.”

“You can trust me, he says.You would say that. How do I know you ain’t lyin?You don’t. But I ain’t.”

“Be with me, Jack, I says. Burn with me. Shine with me. I'll stay till moonpath fades, he says.”

“We ain't got time fer you to yell at me or fer me to tell you everythin that's happened, so I'm jest gonna cover the main points real quick an then I'm gonna kiss you, he says.”

“I turn to Slim. Do I smell? I says. He throws me a startled look. Uh - Ohmigawd, I do. I smell bad. How bad? Go on, you can tell me. Well, he says, you don't smell as bad as some. But you don't smell as good as some neether. I knew it, I says. What'm I gonna do? Yer askin me fer advice? He shakes his head as he says, I'd remind you that I'm wearin a lady dress with no unders.”

“We don't choose the times we're born in, he says. That's the business of the stars. The only choice we got is what we do while we're here. To make it mean somethin.”

“Life ain't black an white. People ain't neether. Family, friends, lovers. It's all a lot more complicated. The longer I live, the more I see, the less I know fer sure. Especially when it comes to matters of the heart. So dry yer tears. Whoever he is, he won't be cryin over you. Men never do. That's the one thing I do know fer sure. Now, muck up them boots a bit.”

“Feeling sorrow is fine, he says. It's right. But you need to use those feelings, channel them into action. Just as you did with your brother. You have such strength, such courage, such power within you.”

“I’m a fever in your blood now, Saba. As you are in mine.”

“Friends don't owe ... Friends don't repay.”

“What happens to you changes you. Fer good or ill, yer changed ferever. There ain't no goin back. No matter how many tears you cry.”

“He knows how Molly grieves. Once he's gone, she'll lock the place up. Then she'll cry some and drink some. And she'll do that, over and over again, until the skin over this latest wound has grown tough enough for her to carry on.”

“I know it's selfish of me to even think of sayin this. You deserve a guy who'll... pluck the stars from the sky and lay 'em at yer feet. I'm the kinda guy who'd step on 'em on my way out the door. I ain't got nuthin to offer you. He takes my hands in his. I jest want you to know that... How I feel about you ain't changed. No. That ain't true. It has changed. It's grown stronger. He touches my face. You run deep in me Saba.”

“The power of a red dress.”

“No, I says, He stole it agin. He's a thief an a menace an I'm gonna trade him in fer a umberella.”

“Fleas plague you, she says. Swamp skitters can kill you, an a little thorn- so small you hardly notice- it can work it's way unner the skin an bit after bit, yyer hand's infected. Maybe you loose a couple fingers, maybe the whole hand. Maybe yer blood goes bad an you die. Tiny things can cause plenty of trouble.”

“The rain rains”

“We're bein cut asunder, Lugh an me.BitBy bit.An it makes me think.It makes me wonder.Is this how he feels when he sees me with Jack? Do I look at Jack the way Lugh looks at Maev?Helpess.Throat bared.Hopeless.”

“Believe it or not, missy, back in my salad days, I was what we called a gay blade, he says. Had a fine manly figger. I had dash an charm an... oh, I was devilish handsome, no word of a lie. Females flocked to me, helpless moths to my deadly flame. There you go, says Em. You jest need to scrub up some.”

“Oh, don't sit there blushin, he says, git on with it. Life's too short. Take her off in the bushes, my friend, an make her yer own. If you don't, somebody else will. Hell, I might jest make a play fer her myself. That 'ud put a rocket in yer pocket. Ha ha! How's about it, Red? You an me?”

“Slim throws me a startled look. I aim my bolt shooter at him. Who am I, you sonofabitch?Helluva time for a identity crisis, he says.”

“Saba! I'm afeared! cries Emmi. If you are, you ain't no sister of mine! I shout. Come at me agin!I ain't afeared of nuthin! She yells. That's more like it.”

“Yer lucky it was me you hijacked.”

“Move fast, travel light, an never tell 'em your real name.”

“Pa? You never said. What'm I gonna be? Good or bad? He kisses the top of my head. Whispers in my ear, so's only him and me can hear. You, my darlin daughter, are gonna be somethin else entirely.”

“An when Ike walks through that door- after I finish kissin him to death- I'm gonna tie him to that chair an never let him go, cux life's too gawdamn short an it's about time I start takin my own advice. I might need yer help, of course, but I'm sure you won't mind, seein how- Molly! Jack grabs her hand. Stop, Molly, please. Dammit Moll. Ike ain't gonna walk through the door.She goes still. Very still. Her smile fades. Please don't say it, she whispers. He can't bear to. But he has to. Ike's dead, he says. He's dead, Molly. I'm sorry.”

“Travelling men make wide detours just to be in the same room as her. That's the most that even the best of of them can hope for. Molly Pratt, he says. Remind me, what's a heavenly creature like you doin in a dump like this? Servin rotgut to scoundrels like you, she says. An if you call my place a dump again, I'll bar you.”

“You couldn't find nobody more pig-headed if you tried, he says. An she's always thinkin she knows best, even when she don't, especially when she don't. She's prickly and stubborn an everythin you'd put at the bottom of a list if you was makin a... a list of that kind. Which I aint. I didn't. But? says Molly. But ohmigawd Molly, she shines so bright, he says. The fire of life burns so strong in her. I never realized till I met her... I bin cold my whole life, Moll.I know, she says softly. It's jest that... aw, hell. She thinks I'm a better man than I really am.Well, yer a better man than you think you are.”

“A buckle an bootlaces don't buy good advice”

“How could she resist them eyes?She tries, says Jack. Man, did she try.”

“The Sword the burning decieved rising the science fiction the betrayed the spy the souls”

“I grab his face an' kiss him on the lips. Then I step back. We stare at each other. All the air gits sucked outta the tunnel. The heartstone burns into my skin. The blood pounds in my ears.Yer timin stinks, he says.”

“If you seen me an' Lugh together, you'd never think we was the same blood. Never think we grew together in the same womb.He's got gold hair. I got black.Blue eyes. Brown eyes.Strong. Scrawny.Beautiful. Ugly.He's my light. I'm his shadow.Lugh shines like the sun. That must of made it easy fer them to find him. All they had to do was follow his light.”

“Thing is, he says, in my line of work, you spend a lot of time sittin. A dress lets the breeze up...cool yer dingles down. There's a lot to be said fer a skirt.”

“Lugh's decided to stick with bein mad at me. It's like traveling with a storm cloud. One of them that hangs low an heavy. The kind that builds an broods an keeps on buildin an brood in till everybody's got a sick headache.”

“I'm alert, full of purpose, free. An few the first time in a long time, I can breathe.”

“She's packed her topside fundamentals so tight into her low-cut dress that it's only a matter of time before she busts her banks.”

“Well, says Mercy, maybe it's time you started makin up your own mind about things. As far as I'm concerned, stars is just...stars.She tips her head back. She stares at the sky so long, it's almost like she's up there with the stars an the moon an the planets, like she's fergot we're here. I clear my throat. She gives a start. Smiles at us.Of course, she says, there's always a chance I could be wrong.”

“I close my eyes. My bones sob. Throb. I'm so weary with tryin to hold myself together. Tryin to hold back the darkness.”

“I stare at his chest. I can't seem to make my eyes move away. When I seen him without his shirt before, back at Hopetown, all I noticed was the scars. But now all I can see is how lean an strong he is. With wide shoulders an arms roped with muscle. He ain't got no hair on his chest, not like Pa an Lugh. My fingers itch to touch it. Find out if his skin feels as smooth as it looks.”

“Why'd you come after me? he says. Back at Hopetown. That cellblock was on fire. You'd hafta be crazy to go in there. But you did. You risked yer life to save mine an you didn't even know me. ”

“You got no idea, do you? You got no idea how beautiful you are.”

“You look at me with them eyes of yers, an I look at yer lips... an all I can think about is what it'ud be like to kiss you.”

“No, you need to listen, she says. This ain’t Silverlake, an you ain’t the daddy. Out here in the real world, the person who knows what they’re doin is the daddy an right now, that’s me. So. Do like daddy says an shift that tasty butt of yers. Unless, of course, you want it shot off.”