Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 21-23

21AUGUSTUS BRINEI found them. The car is parked in strawman of Jenny Mastersons house. Augustus douse stormed into the house carrying a grocery handle in each arm.Gian Hen Gian was in the kitchen pouring salt from a round, blue concussion into a pitcher of Koolaid.Brine set the bags down on the hearth. Help me bring slightly of this stuff in. Theres more bags in the truck.The genie walked to the fireplace and looked in the bags. One was filled with dry-cell batteries and spools of wire. The other was full of brown cardboard cylinders ab reveal four inches long and an inch in diameter. Gian Hen Gian took ace of the cylinders come to the fore of the bag and held it up. A green, waterproof fuse extended from one end.What ar these?Seal bombs, Brine said. The Department of Fish and Game distri besideses them to fishermen to scare seals away from their lines and nets. I had a bunch at the store.Explosives are useless against the demon.There are five more bags in the truck. Would yo u bring them in, please? Brine began to order the seal bombs out in a line on the hearth. I dont know how lots time we gravel.What am I, some scrounging servant? Am I a beast of burden? Should I, Gian Hen Gian, king of the Djinn, be reduced to bearing loads for an ignorant mortal who would attack a demon from hell with firecrackers?O King, Brine said, exasperated, please bring in the goddamn bags so I can finish this before dawn.It is useless.Im non exhalation to try to blow him up. I well(p) penury to know where he is. Unless you can use your great power to restrain him, O King of the Djinn.You know I cannot.The bagsYou are a stupid, mean-spirited man, Augustus Brine. Ive seen more intelligence in the crotch lice of harem whores.The genie walked out the access and his diatribe faded into the night. Brine was methodic onlyy wrapping the fuses of the seal bombs with thin monofilament silvern wire designed to heat up when a current was applied. It was an inexact method of det onation, scarcely Brine had no access to blasting caps at this min of the morning.The genie returned in a moment carrying two grocery bags.Put them on the chairs. Brine gestured with his head.These bags are filled with flour, Gian Hen Gian said. Are you dismission to broil bread, Augustus Brine?22TRAVIS AND JENNYThere was something about her that made Travis want to dump his life out on the coffee table resembling a pocket full of coins let her sort through and keep what she cute. If he was still here in the morning, hed tell her about Catch, but not now.Do you like traveling? Jenny take ined.Im getting tired of it. I could use a break.She sipped from a glass of red wine and pulled her skirt down for the 10th time. There was still a neutral zone between them on the lounge.She said, You dont seem like any insurance salesman Ive ever known. I hope you dont judging my saying, but usually insurance men dress in loud blazers and reek of cheap cologne. Ive never met one that se emed sincere about anything.Its a job. Travis hoped she wouldnt ask about the details of his job. He didnt know a thing about insurance. He had decided on the career because Effrom Elliot had mistaken him for an insurance man that afterwardnoon, so it was the first thing that came to mind.When I was a kid, an insurance man came to our house to sell my father some life insurance, Jenny said. He gathered the family in concert in front of the fireplace and took our picture with a Polaroid camera. It was a nice picture. My father was standing at one side of us all, looking proud. As we were passing the picture around, the insurance man snatched the picture out of my fathers hands and said, What a nice family. Then he ripped my father out of the picture and said, at one time what will they do? I burst into tears. My father was frightened.Travis said Im sorry, Jenny. Perhaps he should thrust told her he was a brush salesman. Did she have any traumatic brush-salesman stories?Do you do t hat, Travis? Do you frighten people for a living?What do you think?Like I said, you dont seem like an insurance man.Jennifer, I need to tell you somethingIts okay. Im sorry, I got a little heavy on you. You do what you do. I never thought Id be postponement tables at this age.What did you want to do? I mean, when you were a little girl, what did you want to be when you grew up?Honestly?Of course.I wanted to be a mom. I wanted to have a family and a man who loved me and a nice house. Pretty unambitious, huh?No, theres nothing wrong with that. What happened?She drained her wineglass and poured herself another from the bottle on the coffee table. You cant have a family alone.But?Travis, I dont want to ruin the evening by talking more about my marriage. Im trying to make some changes.Travis let it go. She picked up his silence as understanding and brightened.So, what did you want to do when you grew up?Honestly?Dont tell me you wanted to be a housewife, too.When I was growing up thats all any girl wanted to be.Where did you grow up, Siberia?Pennsylvania. I grew up on a farm.And what did the farm boy from Pennsylvania want to be when he grew up?A priest.Jenny laughed. I never knew anyone who wanted to be a priest. What did you do while the other boys were playing army, give last rights to the dead?No, it wasnt like that. My mother always wanted me to be a priest. As soon as I was old enough, I went away to seminary. It didnt work out.So you became an insurance man. I suppose that works. I read once that all religions and insurance companies are supported by the fear of death.Thats pretty cynical, the demonkeeper said.Im sorry, Travis. I dont have much faith in the concept of an all-powerful being that would glorify war and violence.You should.Are you trying to convert me?No, its just that I know, absolutely, that God exists.No one knows anything absolutely. Im not without faith. I have my own beliefs, but I have my doubts, too.So did I.Did? What happened, did the Holy Spirit come to you in the night and say, Go forrad and sell insurance?Something like that. Travis forced a smile.Travis, you are a very strange man.I really didnt want to talk about religion.Good. Ill tell you my beliefs in the morning. Youll be quite shocked, Im sure.I doubt that, I really do Did you say in the morning?Jenny held her hand out to him. Inside she was unsure of what she was doing, but it seemed fine at least it didnt feel wrong.Did I miss something? Travis asked. I thought you were angry with me.No, why would I be angry at you?Because of my faith.I think its cute.Cute? Cute You think the Roman Catholic Church is cute? A hundred popes are rolling in their graves, Jenny.Good. They arent invited. Move everyplace here.Are you sure? he said. Youve had a lot of wine.She was not sure at all, nevertheless she nodded to him. She was single, right? She liked him, right? Well, hell, it was started now.He slid down the couch to her side and took her in his arms. They ki ssed, awkwardly at first he was too aware of himself and she was still wondering if she should have invited him in in the first place. He held her tighter and she arched her c everywhereing fire and pushed against him and they both forgot their reservations. The world outside ceased to exist. When they finally broke the kiss, he buried his face in her hair and held her tight so she could not pull away and see the tears in his eyes.Jenny, he said softly, its been a long timeShe shushed him and dug her hands into his hair. Everything will be fine. righteous fine.Perhaps it was because they were both afraid, or perhaps it was because they really didnt know each other it might even have been that by playing a function they would not have to face anything but the moment. The roles they played throughout the night changed. First, each gave when the other needed, and later, when need was no longer an issue, they played their roles out to felicity. It progressed thusly she was the comfo rter, he the comforted then he was the understanding counselor, she the confused confessor she became the nurse, he the patient in traction he took the role of the naive stable boy, she the sexy duchess he was the drill sergeant, she the raw recruit she was the cruel master, he the helpless slave girl.The small hours of the morning found them naked on the kitchen floor after Travis had played a rampaging Godzilla to Jennifers unsuspecting Tokyo. They were crouched over a cooking toaster oven, each with a table knife loaded with butter, poised like executioners waiting for the signal to drop their blades. They polished off a loaf of toast, a half-pound of butter, a quart of tofu ice cream, a box of whole drinking straw cream-sandwich cookies, a bag of unsalted blue corn chips, and an organically grown watermelon that gushed pink juice down their chins while they laughed.Stuffed, satisfied, and sticky-sweet they returned to bed and fell drowsing(prenominal) in a warm tangle.Perhaps it wasnt love that they had in common perhaps it was only a need for escape and forgetting. But they found it. trio hours later the alarm clock sounded and Jenny left to go wait tables at H.P.s Cafe. Travis slept dreamless, groaning and smiling when she kissed him good-bye on the forehead.When the explosions started, Travis woke up screaming.PART FOURMONDAYThe numerous men, so beautifulAnd they all dead did lieAnd a thousand slimy thingsLived on and so did I. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Rime of the Ancient Mariner23RIVERARivera came through the trailer door followed by two uniformed officers. Robert sat up on the couch and was immediately rolled over and handcuffed. Rivera read him his Miranda rights before he was completely awake. When Roberts vision cleared, Rivera was sitting in a chair in front of him, holding a piece of paper in his face.Robert, I am Detective Sergeant Alphonse Rivera. A badge wallet flipped open in Riveras other hand. This is a warrant for your and The picnic s arrest. Theres one here to search this trailer as well, which is what I and deputies Deforest and Perez will be doing in just a moment.A uniformed officer appeared from the far end of the trailer. Hes not here, Sergeant.Thanks, Rivera said to the uniform. To Robert he said Things will go easier for you if you tell me right now where I can find The Breeze.Robert was starting to get a foggy idea of what was going on.So youre not a dealer? he asked sleepily.Youre quick, Masterson. Wheres The Breeze?The Breeze didnt have anything to do with it. Hes been gone for two days. I took the suitcase because I wanted to know who the guy was that was with my wife.What suitcase?Robert nodded toward the living-room floor. The Haliburton case lay there unopened. Rivera picked it up and tried the latches.Its got a combination lock, Robert said. I couldnt get it open.Sheriffs deputies were riffling through the trailer. From the back bedroom one shouted. Rivera, weve got it.Stay here, Robert. Ill be right back.Rivera rose and started toward the bedroom just as Perez appeared in the kitchen holding another aluminum suitcase.That it? Rivera asked.Perez, a shadowy Hispanic who seemed too small to be a deputy, threw the suitcase on the kitchen table and opened the lid. Jackpot, he said.Neat square blocks of plastic-covered green weed lay in even rows across the suitcase. Robert could smell a faint odor like skunk coming from the marijuana.Ill get the testing kit, Perez said.Rivera took a deep smell and looked at Perez quizzically. Right, it could be just lawn clippings that they weighed out in pounds.Perez looked hurt by Riveras sarcasm. But for the record?Rivera waved him away, then returned to the couch and sat down next to Robert.You are in deep trouble, my friend.You know, Robert said, I felt really bad about being so rude to you yesterday when you came by. He smiled weakly. Ive been going through some really hard times.Make it up to me, Robert. Tell me where The Breeze is.I dont know.Then you are going to eat shit for all that pot over there on the table.I didnt even know it was there. I thought you guys were here about the suitcase I took. The other one.Robert, you and I are going to go back to the station and have a really long talk. You can tell me all about the suitcase and all the folks that The Breeze has been keeping company with.Sergeant Rivera, I dont mean to be rude or anything, but I wasnt quite awake when you were telling me the charges sir.Rivera helped Robert to his feet and led him out of the trailer. Possession of marijuana for sale and conspiracy to sell marijuana. Actually the conspiracy charge is the nastier of the two.So you didnt even know about the suitcase I took?I couldnt care less about the suitcase. Rivera pushed Robert into the cruiser. Watch your head.You should bring it along just to see who the guy was that it belonged to. Your guys in the lab can open it andRivera slammed the car door on Roberts comment. He turned to Defo rest, who was coming out of the trailer. Grab that suitcase out of the living room and tag it.More pot, Sarge?I dont think so, but the whacko seems to think its important.