Whale Song - Page 4
Her grin only deepened when I ignored the implication, sat huffily into a nearby folding chair, crossed my arms, and waited for her to speak first.
"What about this gathering do you despise so much?" she asked without preamble.
I remained silent, looking significantly first at her, then at the duffel bags tucked into one corner.
She laughed at that, and the music in it made me almost regret my taking a stand on the matter. As she bent down to get some clothes from one of the bags, she bent over in such a way as to flash me just enough to be teasing about it in case I wanted to change my mind, but not so much as to belabor the point.
I don't understand you at times, Gore, the monster chuckled as she got dressed. You decide to 'take a stand' at the strangest times, usually when part of you has already 'taken a stand' and you want to pretend it hasn't.
I don't expect that you'll ever understand, I mentally sneered.
It's just a turn of phrase, Gore, the monster assured me with malice. I understand perfectly, you're afraid, nothing more . . . and you should be. It shared with me the sensation of a rough tongue rasping over a fanged maw. By the way, you do realize that you haven't taken your eyes off her once since we got here, right?
Coming from my conscience I would have given a guilty start at that, but the monster didn't have that kind of credibility with me. The guilty start came at my realization that the girl had also noticed my eyes remaining upon her, and that she was once more favoring me with a suggestive smile.
"I can take it off again if you like," she offered, gesturing at the plain white sundress she had pulled over her lithe form.
I definitely ignored the implication of that. "Everything," I answered her previous question, then clarified quickly before she got the wrong idea. "I hate everything about these 'gatherings,' as you call them; listening to them is like listening to brain damaged children parroting conversations best left to adults . . . and it's even worse watching them!"
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