Blood Test by Kellerman, Jonathan

manner and smiledmlasciviously. Then r she

leaned over and gave me a frank view’ of her chest,

picked a banana and began eating it in a rather

crude manner–” He stopped, stammered–“you’ll

have to excuse me, Doctor, I’m sixty-three, from

another generation, and it’s hard for me to be as

uninhibited about this kind of thing as is fashion-

able.”

I nodded, trying to seem empathetic. “You look

much younger.”

“Good genes.” He smiled. “Anyway, that’s the

story. She made a production out of eating the

banana, smiled at me again and told me it was

delicious. Licked her fingers and ran off down the

road. The encounter unnerved me because even as

she vamped there’d been hatred in her eyes,’ A

strange mixture of sex and hostility. It’s hard to

explain.”

He sipped his tea, then asked, “Has any of this

been relevant ?”

Before I could answer the waitress returned with

the charge slip. Maimon insisted upon leaving the

tip. It was a generous one.

We walked out to the parking lot. The night was

cool and fragrant. He had the springy step of a man

a third his age.

His truck was a long-bed Chevy pickup. Conventional

tires. He took out his keys and asked, “Would

you like to stop by and visit my nursery? l’d like to

show you some of my most fascinating.specimens.”

He seemed eager for companionship. He’d unloaded

a lot of alienation, ‘probably for the first

time. Self-expression can become habit forming.

“It would be my pleasure. Could being seen with

me cause problems for you?”

He smfied and shook his head.

“Last Fheard, Doctor, this was still a free country.

I’m located several miles southeast of town. Up

in the foothills where most of the big groves are.

You’ll follow me, but in case we disconnect I’ll give

you directions. Weql cut under the freeway, ride

parallel with it, and turn right on an unmarked

road–I’ll slow down so you don’t miss it. At the

foot of the mountains there’ll be a left turn onto an

old utility trail. Too narrow for commercial vehicles

and it floods when the rains come. But this

time of year it’s a handy shortcut.;’

He went on for a while before I realized he was

directing me to the back roadI’d seen on the county

map in the sheriff’s office. The one that bypassed

the town. When I’d asked Houten about it he’d said

it was sealed off by the oil company. Perhaps h

considered a utility trail too insignificant to be

thought of as a road. Or maybe he’d lied.

I wondered about it as I got into the Seville.

2O

THE TURNOFF was sudden. The road, apart from

being unmarked, was hardly a road at all. Just a

narrow dirt ribbon, at first glance one furrow of

many that cut through the vast table’ of farmland.

Anyone unfamiliar with ‘the area would have missed

it. But Maimon drove slovly and I followed his

taillights through moonlit fields of strawberries.

Soon the freeway sounds were behind us, the night

hushed and aglitter with moths spiraling up toward

the stars, pressing frantically and hopelessly for

the heat of distant galaxies.

The mountains hovered above us, grim hulking

masses of shadow. Maimon’s truck was old and it

lurched as he shifted into low gear and began the

climb into the foothills. I stayed several car-lengths

behind and trailed him into darkness so dense it

was palpable.

We climbed for miles, finally reaching a plateau.

The road veered sharply to the right. To the left

was a broad mesa surrounded by chain-link fence.

259

otl Jonaoum Kellerman

Pyramidal towers rose from the flatlands, skeletal

and still. The abandoned oilfields. Maimon turned

away from them and resumed the ascent.

The next few miles were groves, unbroken stretches

of trees recognizable as such by the serrated silhouette

of Star-kissed leaves, shiny satin against the

velvet of the sky. Citrus, from the perfume in the

air. Then came a series of homesteads, farmhouses

on one-acre plots shadowed by sycamore and oak.

The few lights that were on blurred as we drove

by.

Maimon’s turn signal went on two hundred feet

before he swung left through an open gate. An