His mind needed a moment to register who “Kim” was, and how he knew her name. It came back to him: After he and Marianne split up at the hotel, Donny’s evening had started out with that front desk clerk, Kath, and a pair of her young researcher friends, Earl and Kim. They invited him over to their place on Chartres Street, where they ate even more mushrooms and broke out the paints. That was how Donny had ended up mostly green from head to toe, with blue speckles, like some simian gecko. Earl and Kath were a couple, and Donny and Kim were acting like one, for the moment.

He grinned with unabashed psychotropic joy, and Kim grinned back, their hands lingering on each other, delighting in the sensory explosions popping along their fingertips.

“The snake is coming!” yelled another voice, and people turned and started moving farther down the parade line.

A flock of wild parrots flew through, so close to his head it felt like they were in his hair, their cackling chatter like crazy flying monkeys. And then there was an actual flying monkey, some naked furry dude with artificial wings who glided after them and alighted in the crowd not far from Donny. People started eating the wings, and Donny kept moving.

“We are all bonobos on acid!” yelled a voice in the crowd.

And the snake came into view.

It was four blocks long, this thing, made of some fleshlike material lubricated in a way that made it glisten. It had no wheels, or visible means of vehicular propulsion. It moved like a real snake. Maybe there were people inside it, moving like a human centipede. There were people on top of it for sure, a lot of people, naked and feasting and throwing strawberries the size of pomegranates to the crowd.

Donny finally caught one, and dove his face into it. It tasted even better than it looked. He even ate the leaves at the top.

“Get in!” yelled one of the eyes, which was a human face, the face of a cute black woman with green irises and lips painted real black. She was looking right at him.

Donny ran to the front, ahead of the snake, Kim forgotten.

“Come on!” said the woman.

“How?” said Donny.

“Feed me, baby!”

Donny ran after the snake, half-naked and shoeless, until he realized he was dropping the money.

He was on his knees trying to recover it when he felt his tie back around his neck. And then a jolt as it pulled taut, choking him.

When he looked up, he saw a beaked Venetian mask. But it revealed just enough of her face to see it was Heather.

And the smile on the wolf standing next to her was unmistakable. It was Slider, holding Donny’s tie like a lasso.

44

When Donny woke up, he could still hear the music, but it was far away.