Body Rides (8 page)

‘Thanks, I guess. Anyway, I don’t have any family. You’re the most important person in my life, Neal.’

‘The most . . .? No. Come on. Maybe I seem that way tonight, but . . .’

‘You
saved
me,’ she said with a sudden fierce urgency. ‘Don’t you
get
it? I’d be
toast
right now . . . or maybe screaming my head off and
wishing
I was dead. He
would’ve
killed me, sooner or later. No question about it. I’d be dead. So this is the thing: I’d have
nothing
if it weren’t for you. No house, no bank accounts, no jewelry, no future, nothing. No me. So it’s all yours.’

‘But I don’t want . . .’

‘I know, I know. And I understand that, and I accept it. You don’t have to take anything. But everything is yours, regardless. Everything.’

His mouth suddenly felt awfully dry. He took another drink. ‘You don’t mean . . .’ He couldn’t say it.

‘Me?’

He nodded.

‘Of course.’

He heard himself moan.

Elise’s smile returned. ‘Don’t worry about it. If you’re in love with Marta . . . just figure you’ve always got me in reserve, if you want me.’

‘You gotta be kidding,’ he mumbled.

‘I think you know better than that.’

‘You don’t even know me.’

‘I know enough,’ she said. ‘I’m yours – if and when you want me.’

Elise took another drink, then leaned out toward the coffee table and set down her glass. ‘Everything that’s mine is yours,’ she said. ‘Whenever you want it. But I
would
like you to have this tonight.’

She slipped the gold bracelet off her hand, and held it toward him.

A snake – a single, thick coil of intricately detailed gold, the head swallowing the tail. The eyes of the snake were a pair of brilliant green gems. Emeralds?

Neal shook his head. ‘No, no. I can’t take that.’

‘It’s the most valuable thing I have.’

‘All the more reason.’

‘Put out your hand.’

‘Elise.’

‘Please. For me.’

‘What am I supposed to tell Marta, she sees me with a thing like this?’

‘Just the truth. Or don’t let her see it. That’s up to you.’

‘I can’t take it. Really.’

‘Just try it on for a minute.’

He couldn’t see any harm in that, so he switched the glass to his left hand and held his right toward Elise. She slipped the bracelet over his hand and around his wrist.

It was warm from being on Elise.

It felt heavy.

‘Really beautiful,’ he said.

‘It’s a lot more than that.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s not just beautiful, it’s magical.’

Smiling, he raised his eyes to Elise. ‘It does card tricks?’ he asked.

‘I’m serious.’

‘A magic bracelet?’

‘That’s right. It was a gift to me. I’ve had it since I was sixteen. It was a present from . . . a very wonderful man. A poet. His name was Jimmy O’Rourke. We fell . . . quite madly in love. But he had to go back to Ireland.’

‘An Irishman?’

Elise nodded. ‘He was over here as a guest lecturer at UCLA.’

‘How old was he?’ Neal asked.

‘Oh, thirty-five.’

‘And you were sixteen?’

‘I know. Awful. But I was smitten. He was lovely, and you should’ve heard him talk.’ She sighed. ‘Anyway, I met him when I was with some girlfriends over in Westwood Village. We were browsing through a bookstore, and . . . he started talking to me. He hardly had two words out of his mouth before I was head over heels. After that, we could hardly stay away from each other.’

‘What about your parents?’

‘They didn’t know anything about him. I made up stories about going over to a friend’s house. Or to the mall. Or to the beach. But the friend was always Jimmy O’Rourke, and my folks never caught on. They would’ve been horrified, no doubt about it – their daughter going around with a man that age. Not that we . . . there was nothing at all sordid about it. We were so much in love.’

Neal saw tears in her eyes.

‘Then the end of summer came, and Jimmy’s mother phoned him from Shannon. His sister’d been in a car accident. She was in a critical condition, and they didn’t know whether she would make it.’ Sniffing, Elise wiped her eyes.

‘Did she live?’ Neal asked.

‘I don’t know. I never heard from Jimmy again, after he left. Before he went away, though, he gave me this.’ With the tips of her fingers, she patted the bracelet on Neal’s wrist. ‘He called it a “faerie bracelet.” Apparently, back when he was a student at Trinity, he was out on the town one night and happened across a burning building. He heard someone screaming, so he rushed in. He found a blind woman upstairs. She was hysterical, didn’t know which way to go. So Jimmy picked her up and carried her outside. Saved her life. She was wearing this bracelet, and she gave it to him. She insisted that he take it. And she told him that he was free to give it away, whenever he pleased, if he should find someone deserving. So he gave it to me.’

‘Did you save his life?’ Neal asked.

‘No.’

‘Why did you deserve it?’

‘He loved me.’ Tears again came to her eyes. ‘He told me that he had never . . . loved anyone the way he loved me. And that I deserved to have a life full of wonders and strange delights.’ Again, she used the back of her hand to wipe her tears away. Then she sniffed. ‘So, that’s that.’

Neal’s throat felt tight. He swallowed, then said, ‘You never heard from him again?’

‘Never.’

‘Why? If he loved you so much . . .’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Did you ever try to get in touch with him?’

‘I wrote him letters. Scads of letters. I never mailed any of them, though.’ She shrugged. ‘I was afraid . . . they might be returned to me. Maybe marked “deceased,” or . . . I don’t know, I just didn’t have the courage. For all I really knew, he might’ve had a wife. He claimed that he didn’t, but who knows? I didn’t want to find out.’

‘Must’ve been awful for you.’

‘I was heartbroken. But I had the bracelet. I don’t know if I could’ve survived without it. I might’ve done a triple back-flip off a freeway overpass. But the bracelet kept me going. It helped take my mind off Jimmy.’

Neal slipped the bracelet off his hand. He held it out to her. ‘There’s no way I can take this.’

She shook her head. ‘I want you to have it.’

‘It means too much to you.’

‘It’s yours, now. Use it for as long as you wish, then pass it on if you find someone you feel should have it.’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Put it back on. Please.’ A corner of Elise’s mouth tilted upward. ‘Take it, or else.’

‘Or else what?’

‘You’ll risk my wrath, which is indeed a terrible thing to behold.’

Neal broke into a grin. ‘I bet,’ he said.

‘Go ahead and put it back on. Please. We’ll have a little demonstration. Once you find out what it does, I think you might have some second thoughts about turning it down.’

He slid the bracelet onto his wrist again. ‘Okay. What does it do?’

Elise patted Neal’s leg through the robe, then leaned forward and picked up her glass. ‘You should probably lie down,’ she said. ‘I’ll get out of your way.’ She stood up and walked around to the other side of the table.

‘Why do I want to lie down?’ Neal asked.

Elise grinned. ‘Don’t give me trouble. It’s how it’s done.’

‘Okay.’ He took another drink, then set his glass on the table. Holding the robe to keep it from falling open, he swung his legs onto the sofa and sank down onto his back. He rested his hands on his belly.

‘Very good,’ Elise said. ‘Now, close your eyes.’

‘What’s supposed to happen?’

‘You’ll see.’

‘Not if my eyes are shut.’

‘Are you going to be difficult?’

‘No, no, not me.’ He closed his eyes.

‘Now, kiss the serpent’s head.’

‘You’re kidding.’

‘Neal.’

‘How can I kneel when I’m lying down?’

‘Very funny. Kiss the serpent’s head.’

‘Okay.’ Keeping his eyes shut, he lifted his right hand to his face. Then he hesitated.

‘Do you want to give me a hint?’ he asked.

‘There’s nothing to be afraid of.’

‘If this thing does some kind of magic stuff, I really don’t want to get involved.’

‘I’m surprised you believe in magic.’

‘I don’t. But it scares me.’

‘You trust me, don’t you?’

‘I guess so. Sure, I do.’

‘Do you think I’d ask you to do something dangerous?’

‘I guess not.’

‘There
are
a few dangers, but nothing you need to worry about. Not yet. This is just a trial run.’

‘What dangers?’

‘Later, all right?’

‘I think I’d rather find out that sort of thing
before
I take my trial run.’

Elise laughed softly. He looked at her. She was smiling, shaking her head. ‘I’m still here, right?’ she asked. ‘Still in one piece? Still sane?’

‘You seem to be.’

‘Well, I’ve used the bracelet thousands of times.’

‘Thousands?’

‘I’ve had it for sixteen years, Neal. I can’t say that I’ve used it every single day – I went through periods without using it at all. Other times, though, I might’ve used it . . . I don’t know, eight or ten times in one day.’

‘Well, I guess you survived it okay.’

‘I’m sure you will, too.’

‘This
guy
didn’t have anything to do with the bracelet, did he?’

Her smile died. ‘I don’t think so. I don’t see how . . . no. Look, if you’d rather not do this . . . I’ll tell you something, though. I’ve never much regretted anything that I’ve done in my life. What I regret are a few of the things I decided
not
to do. If you don’t give the bracelet a try, Neal, you might look back on tonight, in years
to come, and wonder what would’ve happened – and wish like hell that you’d taken the chance.’

‘Can’t you just tell me what the thing is supposed to do?’

‘It’ll change your life.’

‘Maybe I like my life the way it is.’

Her smile returned. ‘You’ll
love
what the bracelet does. I promise.’

‘What
does
it do?’

‘Try it and find out.’

‘Okay.’ He smirked at her. ‘Here goes nothing.’ He turned his face toward the ceiling, shut his eyes, and touched the bracelet to his mouth. He felt the emerald eyes against his lips. He felt the warm gold.

Soothing.

As he waited for the next instruction, he kept the bracelet to his mouth and thought of Elise’s lips. She must’ve kissed it thousands of times. Her lips had touched it here, just where his lips were touching it now.

Feeling pleasantly light-headed, he pictured himself floating up from the sofa. Elise watched him. With the hand that didn’t hold her drink, she gestured for him to approach. ‘Right this way,’ she said. ‘Come on in.’

Don’t mind if I do, he thought.

And suddenly he was inside her.

As if looking through Elise’s eyes, he saw himself stretched out on the sofa, his hands again resting on his belly, his eyes shut. He appeared to be asleep.

I’m asleep, all right. Dreaming this whole bit.

Is he here yet? Must be. ‘Hello? Neal? Are you in me? Welcome aboard
.’

Jesus, he thought.

He could feel everything: Elise from head to toe, inside and out. She had numerous pains, but didn’t seem especially bothered by them. She was a little trembly, nervous and excited – and thrilled to have him aboard.

Neal tried to speak, but couldn’t: not from his own body on the sofa, not from Elise.

So he said in his mind, I’m here, Elise. What’s going on? Has to be a dream, right?

Elise thought, ‘
Actually, I can’t hear you. This is pretty much a
one-way deal, Neal.’ I’m a poet, but I don’t know it. My feet show it. Longfellows. Stop that, he’ll think I’m an idiot. ‘Neal? You can’t communicate with me. I can’t even tell whether or not you’re in here, but I assume you are. So, how do you like it so far?
’

Incredible, he thought.

Let’s see how he likes this
.

She lifted the glass and drank.

Neal felt the cold rim of the glass on his lips – on
her
lips. He felt the liquid flood her mouth, chill her teeth. He felt the sizzle of the tonic, tasted the vodka and the tart lemon. Then she was swallowing. It was as if
Neal
were swallowing. He felt the drink slide down his gullet, grow warm in his belly.