Absinthe of Malice
Fiction by Spyder Darling
Photo by Vlad
"Gorgeous, baby." I said, eyes closed on the mattress of our cheap Paris hotel bed. The
ceiling fan stirred the afternoon air as it was mixing a Pernod and water. I began to nod.
Claudine stamped her fishnet stockinged foot and nudged me with a gargoyle headed walking
stick. "How would you know how I look, your eyes are closed," she said and I could almost
hear her pouting.
"I don't need to look. You always look gorgeous, baby." I said.
"Still, a girl needs to hear these things." she said and turned her back on me to look out
the wrought iron window gate with its view of the Rue de St. Martin. Below a Parisain police
car, siren pulsing, rattled through the cobblestones below. When it was gone I exhaled the breath
I'd been holding, lit a Marlboro and cut two lines from the little Mount Blanc that was piled on
Claudine's tortise shell hand mirror. I lifted my head after the first line and pretended to take her
picture.
"Click" I said, forever capturing the moment in an imaginary snapshot.
"Your camera, it has no film," she said.
"Doesn't need it," I said and handed her the rolled up 100 franc note. She sniffed and I lit a
cigarette for her. We sat on the bed, riding the undergroove, confident there was nothing we
couldn't do, we just didn't feel like doing it right now.
I smoked my cigarette to the filter, put it out in the crowded ashtray and considered the delicate
aspects of Claudine's slim anatomy. Had it not been for one chromosme, Oscar Wilde would have
doubled his hard time to entertain her boyish figure for a single afternoon tea. Or better yet, late
dinner and le petit dejuner. Claudine looked past me at her reflection in the armoir's mirror.
I put my head in her lap and and looked up at the fineness of her face. "You are so pretty.
Why do you always look so sad?"
She stroked my greasy hair and stubbly beard. "Do not worry silly. I am very happy. It is
just my face that is sad." She jumped from the bed and twirled around. "Come, it is time to
get dressed. Tonight we go dancing, yes?"
"Yes, but it's still daylight, my tater tot, which means it's time for you to get undressed," I said
tossing her onto the bed.
Claudine wrapped her arms around me. We kissed. I unbuttoned her bustier and she helped me
out of my tank top. I laid down on top of her and she dug her nails into my back.
"Oh you bad boy," she said, a tear rolling down her cheek. "You beautiful bad boy."