Read Online Heading South by Dany Laferrière - Free Book Online Page B

You! Why?”
    â€œThat’s the way it is. I want you . . . I want to hear you moan . . . and I will . . .”
    Missie continues staring at him, transfixed.
    â€œI’m in no hurry,” Charlie says calmly.
    And he leaves. Before Missie can even think of anything to say, he’s at the gate of the Bellevue Circle. The meeting place of the privileged youth of Pétionville. Missie feels that she can no longer stop herself from retching. She bends over between two parked cars and vomits huge, yellow streams on the green grass.
    She stays outside for a long time, watching the others dancing. She sees Hansy come out to look for her, but really, she doesn’t feel up to talking to anyone. She runs between the luxurious cars parked anyhow on the lawn. She wants nothing more than to go home and shut herself up in her room. She hears Hansy calling, over and over. “That asshole has made me run away from my own friends twice in one night,” she thinks, continuing to flee. A luminous white dress in the moonlight. Just before reaching the villa, she stops one more time to throw up.
    TWO O’CLOCK in the afternoon. Someone knocks on the door to Charlie’s miniscule room.
    â€œCome in, it’s open.”
    Hansy comes in.
    â€œWhat did you do to Missie?”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?”
    â€œShe’s gone completely bonkers . . . She came to my place at nine o’clock this morning . . . Nine o’clock! I was barely awake! She wanted me to find you. We looked everywhere. I don’t know what happened between the two of you, and it’s really none of my business, but I think it must have been serious . . .”
    â€œWhere is she, Hansy?”
    â€œShe’s downstairs in the car. I’ll go tell her to come up, shall I? I’ll stay down there.”
    Charlie dresses hurriedly. He starts tidying up the room, then changes his mind at the last moment. He decides to wait for Missie sitting on his narrow, iron bed.
    She comes in.
    â€œHello.”
    â€œHello.”
    â€œExcuse me for bothering you at home like this, but I didn’t sleep last night.”
    â€œAh!”
    â€œI don’t understand what right you have to think of me that way,” she says coldly.
    â€œAnd that’s why you came here, so I could explain it to you?”
    A long moment of silence.
    â€œIt’s because I’m afraid of voodoo.”
    He bursts out laughing.
    â€œIs that it? Really?”
    He laughs again, falling back on the bed.
    â€œNo,” he says, “I don’t use voodoo for things like this.”
    â€œWhat, then?”
    â€œIt’s a question of blood.”
    â€œBlood?”
    â€œYes. My blood wants to mingle with your blood.”
    Missie’s lips begin to tremble.
    â€œI don’t understand.”
    â€œWhat I mean is that it’s out of control . . . It has nothing to do with religion, or race, or even sex.”
    â€œWell, if that’s true, then it has nothing to do with me, either,” she says, moving towards the door.
    â€œIf it had nothing to do with you, you wouldn’t have come here.”
    She stops suddenly, like someone who has been shot in the back just as she was about to rush down the stairs.
    CHARLIE IS LYING on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He can lie like this for hours.
    â€œCan you lend me ten bucks, Charlie?” says Fanfan, coming into the room.
    â€œWhere do you think I could get hold of ten bucks?”
    â€œCome on, Charlie, this is serious. I’m caught short. I’ll pay you back first thing next week.”
    Charlie gets up and opens a drawer.
    â€œHere. But you absolutely have to pay me back on Monday.”
    â€œThanks, old pal, you’ve saved my life . . . By the way, how did things go last night at the Bellevue Circle?”
    â€œAs you suggested, I played the sincerity card, and so far it seems to have worked . . . I met that girl, Missie Abel . .