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Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Cast of Characters
  7. Part One
  8. One
  9. Two
  10. Three
  11. Four
  12. Five
  13. Six
  14. Seven
  15. Eight
  16. Nine
  17. Ten
  18. Eleven
  19. Twelve
  20. Thirteen
  21. Fourteen
  22. Fifteen
  23. Sixteen
  24. Seventeen
  25. Eighteen
  26. Nineteen
  27. Part Two
  28. Twenty
  29. Twenty-one
  30. Twenty-two
  31. Twenty-three
  32. Twenty-four
  33. Twenty-five
  34. Twenty-six
  35. Twenty-seven
  36. Twenty-eight
  37. Twenty-nine
  38. Thirty
  39. Thirty-one
  40. Thirty-two
  41. Thirty-three
  42. Thirty-four
  43. Thirty-five
  44. Thirty-six
  45. Thirty-seven
  46. Thirty-eight
  47. Thirty-nine
  48. Forty
  49. Forty-one
  50. Forty-two
  51. Forty-three
  52. Forty-four
  53. Forty-five
  54. Forty-six
  55. A note on the Author

Charging down Avenue B, he picked a café he had found to be acceptable, and sat down at a table. He carefully peeled the remaining three dollars from his pocket and laid them down on the table so he could give me a detailed explanation of the problems with a one-dollar bill. Flipping a bill over with his knife, he gestured to the pyramid on the back. “See that pyramid? I mean, what the fuck is that doing there? I’ll tell you: it’s a masonic symbol. And see the writing beneath it, in Latin? Do you know what that means in English? Well, I’ll tell you: it means ‘New World Order.’”

He was interrupted midflow by the waiter bringing us water. Aslan gulped it down in one go. Wiping his mouth on his baby-blue sleeve, he turned to me and, leaning close enough to kiss, whispered, “Drink lots of water.”

“Okay.” I didn’t ask why, but he felt it his duty to tell me.

“The head of the New World Order lives in a building in Connecticut. That building has the highest water bill in all of America. No one knows why. I know why.”

He waited for me to ask, taking pleasure in my presence for the first time since the night he had fondled my breasts.

“Why does it have the highest water bill in America, Aslan?”

His mouth turned up at the corners, his lips erect with delight.

“Because the New World Order is stealing all the water. Humans are made up of seventy percent water. The earth is made up of seventy percent water. They’re stealing it. So, please, Ruby … drink as much water as you can.”

“Okay. Um, can I kiss you now?”

“No, baby, no you can’t.” And he leaned his forehead on mine. Then he got up and left, the miso soup he had ordered ending its life as Aslan’s second uneaten snack of the day, as inconsequential as Rupert Everett’s second lover in a Merchant Ivory film. A thought struck him as he closed the door of the café, and Aslan popped his head back inside.

“Ruby?”

“Yes, Aslan? Yes?”

“Remember to drink lots of water.”

Nineteen

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Maybe he just doesn’t fancy her

Ruby? What can I say? I mean. Wow. What can I say? She’s got the power. She’s got the power. She’s got the ruby slippers, right there on her beautiful Ruby feet. And she doesn’t even know it. I can’t mess with her, you know? I ain’t gonna mess with her.

Part Two
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Twenty

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A challenge

Ruby’s cards came postmarked New York, although they might as well have been postmarked Hades. By that time, I had built Ruby into a Roman goddess of desire, risen up from the underworld to take my husband away. I imagined her carved from white marble, standing in a museum, schoolchildren giggling at her naked white breasts.