Yes, sort of
He passes three open doors. The fourth is closed. On it is a sign which reads COME IN, THERE IS NO INFECTION HERE, IL N’Y A PAS D’INFECTION ICI.
You lie, Jonesy thinks. Cruise or Curtis or whatever his name is may be a madman, but he’s right about one thing: there is infection.
Blood is pouring down his legs, the bottom half of his johnny is now a bright scarlet (the claret has really begun to flow, the old boxing announcers used to say), but he feels no pain. Nor does he fear infection. He is unique and the cloud can only carry him, not change him. He opens the door and goes inside.
4
Is he surprised to see the gray man with the big black eyes lying in the hospital bed? Not even a little bit. When Jonesy turned and discovered this guy standing behind him back at Hole in the Wall, the sucker’s head exploded. That was, all things considered, one hell of an Excedrin headache. It would put anyone in the hospital. The guy’s head looks okay now, though; modem medicine is wonderful.
The room is crepitant with fungus, florid with red-gold growth. It’s growing on the floor, the windowsill, the slats of the venetian blinds; it has bleared its way across the surface of the overhead light fixture and the glucose bottle (Jonesy assumes it’s glucose) on the stand by the bed; little reddish-gold beards dangle from the bathroom doorknob and the crank at the foot of the bed.
As Jonesy approaches the gray thing with the sheet pulled up to its narrow hairless chest, he sees there is a single get-well card on the bedtable. FEEL BETTER SOON! is printed above a cartoon picture of a sad-looking turtle with a Band-Aid on its shell. And below the picture: FROM STEVEN SPIELBERG AND ALL YOUR PALS IN HOLLYWOOD.
This is a dream, full of a dream’s tropes and in-jokes, Jonesy thinks, but he knows better. His mind is mixing things, pureeing them, making them easier to swallow, and that is the way of dreams; past, present, and future have all been stirred together, which is also like dreams, but he knows that he’d be wrong to dismiss this as nothing but a fractured fairy-tale from his subconscious. At least some of it is happening.
The bulbous black eyes are watching him. And now the sheet stirs and humps up beside the thing in the bed. What emerges from beneath it is the reddish weasel-thing that got the Beav. It is staring at him with those same glassy black eyes as it propels itself with its tail up the pillow, where it curls itself next to that narrow gray head. It was no wonder McCarthy felt a little indisposed, Jonesy thinks.
Blood continues to pour down Jonesy’s legs, sticky as honey and hot as fever. It patters on to the floor and you’d think it would soon be sprouting its own colony of that reddish mold or fungus or whatever it is, a regular jungle of it, but Jonesy knows better. He is unique. The cloud can carry him, but it cannot change him.
No bounce no play, he thinks, and then, immediately: Shhh, shhh, keep that to yourself
The gray creature raises its hand in a kind of weary greeting. On it are three long fingers ending in rosy-pink nails. Thick yellow pus is oozing from beneath them. More of this stuff gleams loosely in the folds of the guy’s skin, and from the comers of his-its?-eyes.
You’re right, you do need a shot, Jonesy says. Maybe a little Drano or Lysol, something like that. Put you out of your mi-
A terrible thought occurs to him then; for a moment it’s so strong he is unable to resist the force moving him toward the bed. Then his feet begin to move again, leaving big red tracks behind him.
You’re not going to drink my blood, are you? Like a vampire? The thing in the bed smiles without smiling. We are, so far as can express it in your terms, vegetarians. Yeah, but what about Bowser there? Jonesy points to the legless weasel, and it bares a mouthful of needle teeth in a grotesque grin. Is Bowser a vegetarian?
You know he’s not, the gray thing says, its slit of a mouth not moving-this guy is one hell of a ventriloquist, you had to give him that; they’d love him in the Catskills. But you know you have nothing to fear from him.
Why? How am I different?
The dying gray thing (of course it’s dying, its body is breaking down, decaying from the inside out) doesn’t reply, and Jonesy once again thinks No bounce, no play. He has an idea this is one thought the gray fellow would dearly love to read, but no chance of that; the ability to shield his thoughts is another part of what makes him different, unique, and vive la difference is all Jonesy can say (not that he does say it).
How am I different?
Who is Duddits? the gray thing asks, and when Jonesy doesn’t answer, the thing once more smiles without moving its mouth. There, the gray thing says. We both have questions the other will not answer. Let’s put them aside, shall we? Facedown. They are… what do you call it? What do you call it in the game?
The crib, Jonesy says. Now he can smell the thing’s decay. It’s the smell McCarthy brought into camp with him, the smell of ether-spray. He thinks again that he should have shot the ohgosh oh-dear son of a bitch, shot him before he could get in where it was warm. Left the colony inside him to die beneath the deer-stand in the old maple as the body grew cold.
The crib, yes, the gray thing says. The dreamcatcher is now in here, suspended from the ceiling and spinning slowly above the gray thing’s head. These things we each don’t want the other to know, we’ll set them aside to count later. We’ll put them in the crib.
What do you want from me?
The gray creature gazes at Jonesy unblinkingly. So far as Jonesy can tell, it can’t blink; it has neither lids nor lashes. Nyther lids nor lashes, it says, only it’s Pete’s voice Jonesy hears. Always nyther, never neether. who’s Duddits?
And Jonesy is so surprised to hear Pete’s voice that he almost by-God tells him… which, of course, was the intention: to surprise it out of him. This thing is crafty, dying or not. He would do well to be on his guard. He sends the gray fellow a picture of a big brown cow with a sign around its neck. The sign reads DUDDITS THE COW.
Again the gray fellow smiles without smiling, smiles inside Jonesy’s head. Duddits the cow, it says. I think not
Where are you from? Jonesy asks.
Planet X. We come from a dying planet to eat Domino’s Pizza, buy on easy credit terms, and learn Italian the easy Berlitz way. Henry’s voice this time. Then Mr ET-Phone-Home reverts to its own voice… except, Jonesy realizes with a weary lack of surprise, its voice is his voice, Jonesy’s voice. And he knows what Henry would say: that he’s having one whopper of a hallucination in the wake of Beaver’s death.
Not anymore, he wouldn’t, Jonesy thinks. Not anymore. Now he’s the eggman, and the eggman knows better.
Henry? He’ll be dead soon, the gray fellow says indifferently. Its hand steals across the counterpane; the trio of long gray fingers enfolds Jonesy’s hand. Its skin is warm and dry.
What do you mean? Jonesy asks, afraid for Henry… but the dying thing in the bed doesn’t answer. It’s another card for the crib, so Jonesy plays another one from his hand: Why did you call me here?
The gray creature expresses surprise, although its face still doesn’t move. No one wants to die alone, it says. I just want someone to be with. I know, we’ll watch television. I don’t want-There’s a movie I particularly want to see. You’ll enjoy it, too. It’s called Sympathy for the Grayboys. Bowser! The remote!
Bowser favors Jonesy with what seems a particularly ill-natured look, then slithers off the pillow, its flexing tail making a dry rasp like a snake crawling over a rock. On the table is a TV remote, also overgrown with fungus. Bowser seizes it, turns, and slithers back to the gray creature with the remote held in its teeth. The gray thing releases Jonesy’s hand (its touch is not repulsive, but the release is still something of a relief), takes the controller, points it at the TV, and pushes the ON button. The picture that appears-blurred slightly but not hidden by the light fuzz growing on the glass-is of the shed behind the cabin. In the center of the screen is a shape hidden by a green tarp. And even before the door opens and he sees himself come in, Jonesy understands that this has already happened. The star of Sympathy for the Grayboys is Gary Jones.