Nymphomation(90)

The plan was to get what Joe needed, collect Daisy’s father, then get out of there, go join Daisy and Celia back in Dopejack’s house. Jazir wanting to get there so badly, knowing he couldn’t go back home now, runaway for real.

‘You got what you wanted, Joe?’

‘What…’

‘Joe… I know this is bad…’

‘Right…yes…’

Joe pulled himself up, searched in a drawer for some papers and disks. These were put in a carrier bag. The last thing… Joe looking at the volume of Mathematica Magica. Bedside reading, lover’s treatise and manual of spells. A gift for Benny, never touched. Not now. Joe slipped the book into the bag.

‘That’s it.’

Downstairs they went, into the study, where Hackle and Jimmy were arguing. Hackle didn’t want Jimmy to go, that was evident; as Jazir came in he was saying stuff about the maze being open now, more open than ever before. Jimmy wasn’t having any of it.

‘I belong to my daughter, that’s all.’

‘You ready, Jimmy?’ Joe asked.

Just a nod in reply.

‘Joe…’ began Hackle. ‘Please…’

‘Shut up.’ Said so calmly, you wouldn’t have thought… ‘I blame you entirely for Benny’s death.’

That’s it. They left Hackle, Maximus Hackle, alone in his big old house of echoes and the ghost of echoes.

At Dopejack’s there was still no sign of the DJ, so they more or less took the place over, assigning bedrooms. Daisy and Jazir getting their own room! Their own bed! (Dope’s old room.) Worth all the mad fathers in the world, that was.

How long they would be allowed to stay there, the five remnants of the Dark Fractals, they could not know. Long enough for one more game?

They decided between them; Monday morning, Jimmy Love would be sent out to purchase the bones, five of them, one for each. If that didn’t work, they would quit playing for ever.

Jazir had the papers off Joe. Details in there of Adam Jagger (Six-Five). Last known address: a small street in small town, Stalybridge, Manchester. (A phone call answered by an angry woman with screaming kids in the background; ‘No-one here of that name, honey – get down, Gary, before I…’) Last known occupation: insurance clerk. (No longer employed here, sorry. Left in 1989. No idea where, sorry.) Current whereabouts: unknown.

‘Mystery man,’ said Jazir.

‘We need to get DJ’s computer running,’ said Daisy. ‘Can’t you unerase or something.’

‘Tried it. Whoever wiped it was good. Dopejack was better, getting that message in the puzzle, but I’m worse than both of them. Tried everything.’

‘There must be some connection. Something that got DJ going.’

Jazir shrugged.

For the days of that week, the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, they were almost like a family, a dysfunctional one granted, but that’s OK, that’s normal. Jazir and Daisy spending time in the room, trying to get the computer working, studying Hackle’s papers for clues, planning what would happen after the game, making love. Sometimes Daisy would come out, carrying her box of dominoes. She would play gentle games with her father, in which he beat her quite easily, as always, but always with a lesson in the loss. They talked of nothing but strategy. Celia was happier now, even when remembering Eddie, even though they still refused to let her out, telling stories about officials and squatting rights and bad guys on the streets of Whalley Range. She had all five bones tight in two small hands the whole time, squeezing and praying to win. It was for Eddie, she told herself, and the big escape. Joe kept to his room mostly, usually locked in. Occasional cries, sometimes laughter even. Nobody disturbed him, nobody dared.

Family life, waiting for the bailiff’s knock (or Jazir’s father finding them, whichever was worse).

Thursday was funeral day. Three people were buried. Two of them shared the same grave, unmarked, and far from any cemetery. One was a shaven-headed lout with a Nazi tattoo on his cock, the other a punk virgin with green spikes of hair. There were no mourners, only a pair of domino diggers and Executive Crawl presiding. He spat on the grave and felt his wallet.

Benny’s farewell was taking place in his beloved Southern Cemetery. The AnnoDomino Co. had offered to pay all the costs. Joe had told them to get stuffed, this was his pleasure. It was nice; quiet, nothing fancy. Joe was there alone, having told Jazir and Daisy to stay with Celia. Benny’s mother and father turned up. Joe had never met them before. He introduced himself, called himself a friend, a deep friend. As the dirt started, he ripped some pages out of the Mathematica Magica, which he let flutter down. He was whispering some ancient text, the numbers and equations of eternal return, when some scrawled lettering touched his eyes. The torn-out flyleaf… these words…