Read Online Nova by Samuel Delany - Free Book Online

set the cup down sharply.
    Lorq picked up the glass of rum. "Would you prefer ...?" But Tavo took the glass out of his hand. "That's not for you, Little Senhor."
    "Tavo, where are my parents?"
    "Back up in the woods, at Alonza's."
    "Take us, Tavo?"
    "Who?"
    "We want to go see them."
    Tavo deliberated. "We can't go unless you have money." He roughed Lorq's hair. "Hey, Little Senhor, you have any money?"
    Lorq took out the few coins from his pocket. "Not enough."
    "Prince, do you or Ruby have any money?" Prince had two pounds @sg in his shorts.
    "Give it to Tavo."
    "Why?"
    "So he'll take us to see our parents."
    Tavo reached across and took the money from Prince, then raised his eyebrows at the amount,
    "Will he give this to me?"
    "If you take us," Lorq told him.
    Tavo tickled Lorq's stomach. They laughed. Tavo folded one bill and put it in his pocket. Then he ordered another rum and sour milk. "The milk is for you. Some for your friends?"
    "Come on, Tavo. You said you'd take us."
    "Be quiet," the miner said. "I'm thinking whether we should go up there. You know I must go plug in at work tomorrow morning." He tapped the socket on one wrist.
    Lorq put salt and pepper in the milk and sipped it.
    "I want to try some," Ruby said.
    "It smells awful," said Prince, "You shouldn't drink it. Is he going to take us?"
    Tavo gestured to the owner of the cafe. "Lots of people up at Alonza's tonight?"
    "It's Friday night, isn't it?" said the owner.
    "The boy wants me to take him up there," said Tavo, "for the evening."
    "You're taking Von Ray's boy up to Alonza's?" The owner's purple birthmark crinkled.
    "His parents are up there." Tavo shrugged. "The boy wants me to take them. He told me to take them, you know? And it will be more fun than sitting here and swatting redbugs." He bent down, tied the thongs of his discarded sandals together, and hung them around his neck. "Come on, Little Senhor. Tell the one-armed boy and the girl to behave."
    At the reference to Prince's arm, Lorq jumped.
    "We are going now."
    But Prince and Ruby didn't understand.
    "We're going," Lorq explained. "Up to Alonza's.
    "What's Alonza's?"
    "Is that like the places Aaron is always taking those pretty women in Peking?"
    "They don't have anything out here like in Peking," Prince said. "Silly. They don't even have anything like Paris."
    Tavo reached down and took Lorq's hand. "Stay close. Tell your friends to stay close too." Tavo's hand was all sweat and callus. The jungle chuckled and hissed over them.
    "Where are we going?" Prince asked.
    "To see Mother and Father." Lorq's voice sounded uncertain. "To Alonza's."
    Tavo looked over at the word and nodded. He pointed through the trees, dappled with double moons.
    "Is it far, Tavo?"
    Tavo just cuffed Lorq's neck, took his hand again, and went on.
    At the top of the hill, a clearing: light seeped beneath the edge of a tent. A group of men joked and drank with a fat woman who had come out for air. Her face and shoulders were wet. Her breasts gleamed before falling under the orange print. She kept twiddling her braid.
    "Stay," whispered Tavo. He pushed his children back.
    "Hey, why— "
    "We have to stay here," Lorq translated for Prince who had stepped forward after the miner.
    Prince looked around, then came back and stood by Lorq and Ruby.
    Joining the men, Tavo intercepted the raffia-covered bottle as it swung from arm to arm. "Hey, Alonza, are the Senhores Von Ray ...?" He thumbed toward the tent.
    "Sometimes they come up. Sometimes they bring their guests with them," Alonza said. "Sometimes they like to see— "
    "Now," Tavo said. "Are they here now?"
    She took the bottle and nodded.
    Tavo turned and beckoned the children.
    Lorq, followed by the wary siblings, went to stand beside him. The men went on talking in blurry voices that undercut the shrieks and laughter from the tarpaulin. The night was hot. The bottle went around three more times. Lorq and Ruby got some. And the last time Prince made a face, but drank