He did not have the freedom to eat and hold
what people like Earline had the freedom to eat and hold. And for that reason
their fat-layered bodies had come to represent a kind of ultimate freedom to
him, a freedom he would never have. He looked upon Earline now where she stood
holding her box of bonbons in both hands while the rolls and piles of her
wonderful fat seemed to undulate in the most beautiful and inviting way
although she herself was standing utterly still.
“Go ahead on,” he said, “eat you one.”
Without taking her eyes off him, she ripped the top off the box, jammed one hand inside, found not
one but two bonbons, and popped them into her mouth. She closed her eyes and
chewed slowly, feeling the syrupy sugar of the candy flood not only her mouth
but her whole being with sweetness.
“Yes, you darling,” she heard him say from
behind her closed eyes. “Eat it. Eat it, you sweet honey.”
She took another bonbon out of the box.
“Yes,” she heard Billy Bat say, “yes, you
sweet girl, put it in you mouth.”
She did.
“Suck on it,” groaned Billy Bat, “roll it
around on your tongue and suck on it.”
She did.
“More,” he said in a voice gone strange.
“Take more in you mouth.”
She did, lost entirely now in the sweetness
of the moment and his sweet voice talking to her sweetly. She sucked and
chewed, her mouth full, the candy deep in her throat. She let her eyelids open
just a bit in order to see him through her lashes, to bring him closer to her
and to the moment, and what she saw him doing with his mouth over the same
intimate part of her bathing suit did not shock her or even surprise her, so
natural did it seem in this close moment, and she shut her eyes again and
concentrated on what she was doing with her own mouth.

Thanks very much. I love your blog and when there was no activity there for a few days I was worried you had lost heart. These Harry Crews books are a real treat.
ReplyDeleteReally digging the Harry Crews - thanks for that and all the other cool stuff. I don't always say thanks, but it's always appreciated (I'll try to do better, I promise).
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