riskier to board the yacht on that main deck, bursting into the midst of the party, so to speak, although surely this was what they intended to do, anyway. But it would be far better to board on the second level, so handily made accessible by whichever Gods were in charge tonight, and work their way down by stealth to where they eventually wanted to be.
âThe masks,â Avery told Kellie, and she went below to fetch them as he eased the Rinker in alongside the loading platform and cut the engines to idle speed.
Â
BETWEEN STANZAS one and two, there was a four-measure interlude in the unrelated key of G, punctuated by drum beats and slashing, off-beat, E-minor power-chords on electric guitars. The drum beats grew louder and more insistent as the synth picked up the B-flat note again, more ominous-sounding now, and Tamarâs almost-blues melody reached out with the words of the second stanza, her voice tremulous, her brown eyes wide and darting uneasily, the lights behind her becoming dark and swirling as if in anticipation of a sudden storm.
âBeware the Jabberwock, my son!
âThe jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
âBeware the Jubjub bird, and shun
âThe frumious Bandersnatch!â
Â
BISON RECORDS had used twelve different rubber masks during the shooting of the video, changing colors, shapes, and sizes to achieve the morphing effect they were looking for, the transmogrification of an insistent date-rape hazard into a crazed and violent beast intent on rape and possibly murder.
There were only three masks aboard the Rinker tonight, and they would not be used for effect, merely for disguise.
Avery handed one of them to Kellie.
He himself pulled another one over his head and face.
Cal Wilkins put on the last one.
Kellie took the wheel of the boat.
Both men lifted AK-47s from the deck, came through the gate on the transom entry, and stepped onto the loading platform.
In the ballroom, Tamar Valparaiso was about to soar into the third stanza of âBandersnatch.â
Â
IT WAS STRANGE how all tension left her the moment she began performing. She knew she had them, each and every one of them, could tell by the pin-dropping silence out there that they were hanging on every word she sang. She was hanging on to each word herself, for that matter, caught in the suspense of the moment she alone had created, waiting for whatever was going to happen next, just like when she was a kid listening to stories her mother told her, and then what, Mama, and then what?
There was the insistent B-flat note again, pulsing from the speakers left and right. She imagined that sound magnified a thousandfold, visualized herself singing on the stage of a vast arena, hundreds of thousands of fans cheering and whistling as she stamped around the stage in her flirty little tunic, wanting more of her, ever more of her, screaming for more of her.
Behind the screen on her left, she could see Jonah looking all muscular and masculine and macho in the clay-colored mask he wore for his entrance, waiting to come on, just waiting to burst onto that dance floor and tear off all her clothes.
âHe took his vorpal sword in hand:
âLong time the manxome foe he soughtâ
âSo rested he by the Tumtum tree,
âAnd stood awhile in thoughtâ¦â
Â
AS THEY CLIMBED the ladder to the second deck, Avery glanced upward to the sun deck and the pilot house above, where he could see two uniformed figures busily performing nautical tasks, half-turned away from where he and Cal tried to flatten themselves against the side of the yacht so that no one listening to the big performance in the ballroom would catch sight of them in their rubber masks. They reached the second deck of the launch undetected, paused for an instant, but only an instant, to listen to the music coming from the main deckâ¦
âSo rested he by the Tumtum tree,
âAnd stood awhile in thoughtâ¦ââ¦and then,
âThe masks,â Avery told Kellie, and she went below to fetch them as he eased the Rinker in alongside the loading platform and cut the engines to idle speed.
Â
BETWEEN STANZAS one and two, there was a four-measure interlude in the unrelated key of G, punctuated by drum beats and slashing, off-beat, E-minor power-chords on electric guitars. The drum beats grew louder and more insistent as the synth picked up the B-flat note again, more ominous-sounding now, and Tamarâs almost-blues melody reached out with the words of the second stanza, her voice tremulous, her brown eyes wide and darting uneasily, the lights behind her becoming dark and swirling as if in anticipation of a sudden storm.
âBeware the Jabberwock, my son!
âThe jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
âBeware the Jubjub bird, and shun
âThe frumious Bandersnatch!â
Â
BISON RECORDS had used twelve different rubber masks during the shooting of the video, changing colors, shapes, and sizes to achieve the morphing effect they were looking for, the transmogrification of an insistent date-rape hazard into a crazed and violent beast intent on rape and possibly murder.
There were only three masks aboard the Rinker tonight, and they would not be used for effect, merely for disguise.
Avery handed one of them to Kellie.
He himself pulled another one over his head and face.
Cal Wilkins put on the last one.
Kellie took the wheel of the boat.
Both men lifted AK-47s from the deck, came through the gate on the transom entry, and stepped onto the loading platform.
In the ballroom, Tamar Valparaiso was about to soar into the third stanza of âBandersnatch.â
Â
IT WAS STRANGE how all tension left her the moment she began performing. She knew she had them, each and every one of them, could tell by the pin-dropping silence out there that they were hanging on every word she sang. She was hanging on to each word herself, for that matter, caught in the suspense of the moment she alone had created, waiting for whatever was going to happen next, just like when she was a kid listening to stories her mother told her, and then what, Mama, and then what?
There was the insistent B-flat note again, pulsing from the speakers left and right. She imagined that sound magnified a thousandfold, visualized herself singing on the stage of a vast arena, hundreds of thousands of fans cheering and whistling as she stamped around the stage in her flirty little tunic, wanting more of her, ever more of her, screaming for more of her.
Behind the screen on her left, she could see Jonah looking all muscular and masculine and macho in the clay-colored mask he wore for his entrance, waiting to come on, just waiting to burst onto that dance floor and tear off all her clothes.
âHe took his vorpal sword in hand:
âLong time the manxome foe he soughtâ
âSo rested he by the Tumtum tree,
âAnd stood awhile in thoughtâ¦â
Â
AS THEY CLIMBED the ladder to the second deck, Avery glanced upward to the sun deck and the pilot house above, where he could see two uniformed figures busily performing nautical tasks, half-turned away from where he and Cal tried to flatten themselves against the side of the yacht so that no one listening to the big performance in the ballroom would catch sight of them in their rubber masks. They reached the second deck of the launch undetected, paused for an instant, but only an instant, to listen to the music coming from the main deckâ¦
âSo rested he by the Tumtum tree,
âAnd stood awhile in thoughtâ¦ââ¦and then,
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