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Back Loudermilk
Chapters (60)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Personae
  4. I: Early Days
  5. One. Control
  6. Two. Doubt
  7. Three. Fate
  8. Four. Same
  9. Five. Fine Arts
  10. Six. In Loco Parentis
  11. Seven. Settling
  12. Eight. Neighbors
  13. Nine. Prospects
  14. Ten. The Lucky
  15. Eleven. Instruction
  16. Twelve. Same
  17. Thirteen. This Is a Pipe
  18. Fourteen. This Is Not a Pipe
  19. Fifteen. The Reason
  20. Sixteen. That Person
  21. Seventeen. Predictably
  22. II: Writing Teacher
  23. Eighteen. Early Poems
  24. Nineteen. Motivation
  25. Twenty. Allegory
  26. Twenty-One. Grief
  27. Twenty-Two. A Portrait
  28. Twenty-Three. Veils
  29. Twenty-Four. Soft Power
  30. Twenty-Five. Lists
  31. Twenty-Six. A Break
  32. Twenty-Seven. Elsewhere
  33. Twenty-Eight. Custom
  34. Twenty-Nine. Parity
  35. Thirty. Fortune
  36. III: Volta
  37. Thirty-One. Images
  38. Thirty-Two. A Very Interesting Young Man
  39. Thirty-Three. Letters
  40. Thirty-Four. We Prefer to See Ourselves Living
  41. Thirty-Five. Love
  42. Thirty-Six. The Iceberg
  43. IV: Your Best Reader
  44. Thirty-Seven. A Novelist
  45. Thirty-Eight. In Advance of the Broken Arm
  46. Thirty-Nine. Their Penultimate Encounter
  47. Forty. Détente
  48. Forty-One. Worlds
  49. Forty-Two. Recognition
  50. Forty-Three. Persistence
  51. Forty-Four. And Then
  52. Forty-Five. Mingling
  53. Forty-Six. You
  54. Forty-Seven. Persona
  55. Forty-Eight. Est et Non
  56. Forty-Nine. The Author
  57. Epilogue
  58. Afterword: The Libertine
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. About the Authors

I so love him, she mused, even as she hurried indoors and upstairs to gaze again at the walnut, which she would, for reasons still unclear to her, frame in an elaborate craft-paper theater/altarpiece, placing it in the farthest regions of her desk drawer.

Twenty-Three. Veils

Twenty-Three

Veils

In 2003 Halloween in the U.S. of A. falls on a Friday. Which means that all of Crete is giddy with notionally sublimated homicidal lust.

The most popular costume is the university mascot—in various iterations. A few feckless dweebs have on full-fur suits, but the ideal ensemble has to be: 1. freshly shaved pecs, preferably greased or dusted in some sort of glitter; 2. loincloth; 3. lace-up gladiator sandals; 4. bull’s head, or just the horns if you really have a great face; 5. short, thick sword.

Among female undergrads, the reigning look is prostitute, though other paths are explored: sexy nurse, sexy surgeon (for the ambitious), sexy CIA operative, sexy nun, sexy postal worker (with or without death-dealing firearm), sexy houseplant, along with an assortment of sexy animals and extremely sexy babies.

Loudermilk has elected to dress as sexy Groucho Marx. In Loudermilk’s conception, this disguise demands a bathrobe, wool socks, bedroom slippers, boxer shorts, glasses (with attached nose and mustache), fake eyebrows, and a six-inch fake cigar.

Harry says something about, Didn’t Groucho usually have some pajamas? Or maybe a three-piece suit plus tie? He seemed to have been fairly modest?

“Sack up, dude, because this is his behind-the-scenes look,” says Loudermilk. He is affixing the dark costume eyebrows to his blond eyebrows. “This is Groucho letting you know what Groucho is really all about.” Loudermilk is done with his toilette. He turns. “Because I know you’re still down to be Harpo?”

Harry retreats to the common area. “No thanks.”

“What?” Loudermilk is doing an overly nasal approximation of Groucho’s voice. “This is unacceptable. I’m having a beer and you’re having one, too, or should I say, three?”

Harry sinks into a chair, points to himself. “Working.”

Loudermilk continues, “With that kind of a show, who needs an audience! Fuck me,” he says, breaking character. “I sound like Looney Tunes Al Capone.” He goes into the fridge.

Harry reluctantly accepts a beer. “It’s not too late.”

“What, dude, for Al Capone? I don’t think so! This is much better. Better for conversation.” Loudermilk finishes his beer in one long draw. “So, Harrison, since you refuse my offer of relatable wingman, what, pray tell, are we going to do with ye?”

Harry blinks. “We’re not doing anything.”

“You keep saying that, but I really don’t think that’s what you’re saying, dude.”

“No, that’s what I’m saying.”

“Right, except that you’re not!” Loudermilk shakes his head. “Because no means yes, Harrison.”

Harry says that no definitely means exactly what it sounds like.

“With you, maybe. But you don’t see the bigger picture.”