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hated it, and he hated having to deal through this big prick.
Gillman said, "Don't knock it until you try it."
"Jesus Christ!" Jim said. "You've hit on every boy and
girl in the place! Do you love being turned down? Is that
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part of your problem?"
180
"Hey, there's more than one here knows an offer they
can't refuse! I don't need you, Grimson, any more than I
need a wart on my ass! I'll slip you what you need when
we're alone next time. Bring the wherewithal. Otherwise,
no tickee, no shirtee."
What would Red Ore do? Probably kill Sherwood and
take his entire supply. Couldn't do that.
Though Sherwood's parents were wealthy, they sent him
little money. Thus, if he wanted extra cash, he had to deal
in nickel-and-dime stuff. His father had been a steel
magnate. Despite the shutting down of the industry in the
Youngstown area, he had interests in other businesses and
was said to own half of Belmont City. His only son had
seemed destined to be one of those tall, athletic, blond, and
handsome scions who would sweep through life untroubled
by the anxieties and dire straits of the great unwashed, the
rabble, the seething masses.
Not so. Even the extremely rich had problems they
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shared with the lowly poor. Gillman was bisexual, with a
leaning toward males. If his gay-hating father had known
that, he would not have been so eager to make him into a
businessman. Gillman was passionate about becoming a
painter. The senior Sherwood was appalled by this. He
insisted that Gillman go to Harvard to get an M.B.A. and
then become his partner. If he wanted to paint as a
recreation, fine, though he should not brag about it to
anyone who might think only a pansy would be an artist. If
he wanted to be a patron, that was different.
Gillman, like so many now in therapy, had gone berserk.
He had slashed his wrists and painted a self-portrait with
blood. Then his drug-addiction had been revealed, and here
he was in the mental ward of Wellington Medical Center.
Jim would have empathized with Gillman if he did not act
as if he were the Duke of Kingdom Come. Jim also thought
J8I
PHILIP JOSE FARMER
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RED ORC'S RAGE
that Gillman's choice of Wolff as his persona was a hoot.
Wolff would spit in the son of a bitch's face.
A few minutes later, he was talking to Sandy Melton. She
had not been able to get into a long conversation with him
since she had entered the project. She was classified as
schizoaffective and was now taking lithium carbonate. She
adored her Caucasian father though she did not see him
enough to satisfy her. He was a traveling salesman for a
large pharmaceutical company with headquarters in Bel-
mont City. Sandy detested her mother, who was Korean.
From early childhood. Sandy had suffered because so many
of her grade-school classmates had called her "slant-eyes,"
"Chink," "Jap," "gook," and "Mongolian idiot." Her
high-school friends had refrained from this, but her ac-
quaintances were not so discreet.
Yet, her long glossy black hair, uptilted eyes, and high
cheekbones made a beautiful whole. And, though only five
feet two inches tall, she had relatively long legs and a petite
but full-busted figure. Despite this, she thought that she was
ugly. Though shy, she had been a very energetic, sometimes
overzealous and near-frenzied business manager and agent
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for the Hot Water Eskimos. But when she suddenly became
depressed, she was very withdrawn and lethargic. She
would then let her duties slide.
From an early age. Sandy had not liked her mother,
mostly because her mother had not seemed to like her. Kuo
Melton was surly, untalkative, and a bad housekeeper who
spent most of her time watching TV soap operas and game
shows. Though she had been in the United States for twenty
years, she spoke English very poorly.
Sometimes Sandy was in a forgiving mood, and she
would explain to her friends that her mother had had a hell
of a childhood and youth. She had been sexually abused and
half-starved and homeless for years before Abe Melton
182
married her. At that time, she was beautiful and looking for
a way out of her country. Sandy's father had told her that
Kuo was genuinely fond of him and he of her during the
early years of their marriage. That was certainly no longer
true.
Sandy's method of entering the World of Tiers was
unique. She would take all of her clothes off while chanting
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the first four lines of the Buddhist Lotus Sutra over and
over. Then she would press her palms against the full-length
mirror on the wall of her room. While doing this, she would
use Jim's ATA MATUMA M'MATA chant. Two chants
were better than one. After about seven minutes (seven was
a magical and mystical number), and while she concen-
trated on the entry point five inches inside the mirror (five
was another mystical number), the glass would turn soft and
rubbery.
As soon as she felt the mirror become just a Jell-0, she
would begin muttering swiftly the words of the song "Over
the Rainbow." What was good enough for Dorothy of Oz
was good enough for her. And three chants were better than
one.
Her ectoplasm, as she called it, would travel through the
palms of her hands. It would fall forward through the
ever-thinning substance into the universe she had chosen.
When she had passed completely through, she (as ecto-
plasm) was in a male body. She had long wanted to be a
male because her father was, though she also felt that this
desire was morally wrong.
The universe beyond the mirror was like nothing de- [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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