Read Online 12 Bliss Street by Martha Conway - Free Book Online Page B

drinking grain alcohol when he was in grade school.”
    “I don’t think we should be saying all this,” Dave said.
    “It’s okay,” Nicola said. “But you know, Dave, everyone has only one liver.”
    She waited two beats. The Daves looked at her, not understanding.
    “Everyone is born with just one liver.”
    They stopped looking at her and looked at each other. The wind whipped their hair in unison and Nicola watched them get it. Suddenly she felt this was easy; she could play it by ear.
    “Is that true?” Davette asked. Her nose was running a little from the cold.
    “Let’s just go,” Nicola told her.
    She started walking back and in a moment the Daves followed her. The sidewalk was sandy and ripped up and the fog had thickened into something like suspended rain.
    “If he lied about the liver, he could have lied about the other thing, too,” Davette muttered to Dave. She sniffed, and her hands were crossed over her chest as she walked. Dave said nothing but his face was pale.
    At the door to the van Nicola stood still while Davette wrapped the scarf around her eyes again. Then she said, “It’s better to take Evans to Third. If you listen to me I’ll get us back quicker.”
    The Daves said nothing but they took her advice. They were in something like shock.
    “Get into the right-hand lane,” Nicola told Davette, who was driving. “At the first major light make a right.”
    “On Third?” Davette asked.
    “That’s it.”
    She waited for the boy to speak. At last he said, “You know where we’re taking you.”
    “Not really,” Nicola lied.
    “That complicates things,” he said.
    “Not really.”
    They skimmed along making green lights. Nicola could feel when they were on wide streets or narrow. Traffic was light since the muni trains had stopped and the buses were on their night schedules.
    “If you know where we’re taking you things will have to be different,” Dave said.
    “Tell the guy to come,” Nicola said.
    “Huh?”
    “The liver guy. Tell him to come to the warehouse.”
    “What for?” Dave asked.
    “So we can talk.”
    Davette sniffed again and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “We might as well, Dave. What if it’s true, what if he lied? And now she knows where she’s been.”
    Dave thought for a minute. “You really fucked up,” he told Davette.
    “Fuck you,” she said calmly. “I did not.”
    “I knew we should have never untaped her mouth.”
    “We had to sometime. For water and stuff.”
    “He never said.”
    “He said it to me.”
    “ When did he say?” Dave asked. His voice was like a cat’s, small and sleek. “Listen, I want to know this: when did he say so much to you when he didn’t to me?”
    “He called me last night. He told me I was the lead role.”
    “The lead role? I’m the lead role.”
    “No, you’re supporting.”
    “No way do I support!”
    “Take a left at Mariposa,” Nicola told Davette.
    Davette pulled at the blinker. “Do you want the blindfold off?” she asked.
    “Dave!” Dave said.
    “Well, what’s the point?”
    “Actually I’m enjoying the challenge,” Nicola told her.
    *   *   *
    The girl was dead.
    He stood over the body, looking at it. The camisole was in pieces. A bad taste filled his mouth. It had all worked out.
    The video camera was still running.
    “Shambhala,” he told her, “is a way of life.”
    He took a step back, thinking maybe his arm or hand had strayed into camera range. It was late, very late. Downstairs, Marlina at last was quiet. Asleep, probably. He himself was tired, but he had much more to do.
    “Shambhala is about waking up and bringing buddhism into your life. It’s a warrior’s buddhism, inspired by the ancient kingdom of Shambhala, an enlightened society based on wisdom and fearless action. Fearless action. It has a tradition of meditation and bravery combined. I myself went to a meditation center for eleven months and completed five levels of Shambhala training, beginning with