Dali's Egg ~ 11. Various Positions

Robert McGinnis

June sat at the table and ate. Eating had become a comfort to her in the days since she’d arrived; the gull meat seemed to take the raw edge off the horror of her situation, dulling her mind a little more each time.
She gazed out at the village as its inhabitants left the kitchen area and set out on their duties. She wished she had a drink; something to liven up the old familiar pointlessness of this gig.
Shit, she thought, what sort of god would make the afterlife as fucked up as the life that went before?
A drink would liven things up.
She thought back to the many afternoons and evenings spent under the buzz. She had always taken pride in her ability – barring a few isolated incidents – to maintain an even keel while drinking. But, as with all things related to pride, your abilities are defined by the consequences of that one time when you slip. Her mind plummeted into the woods where Richard Mars, his red hair writhing in the afternoon light, takes the knife from the sheath on his unbuckled belt and holds it alongside the enflamed evidence of his desire.
June tasted briefly the vodka she’d been drinking; she squinted her eyes closed tight, seeing red; feeling the coldness of the pond, before taking another mouthful of gull meat, breathing shallowly through her nose.
In the distance she heard the chattering of a magpie and she realised that, apart from the warning cries of the gulls and the magpie she’d spotted earlier on the water tank, the island was remarkably deplete of wildlife.
The Old guy, John, came cautiously across the clearing and into the kitchen area, his tattered clothing, long grey beard and eye patch giving him the look of some bedraggled pirate, marooned and loosing his mind to loneliness.
June watched him out of the corner of her eye as he ate some the meat half-heartedly, picking at it as if he resented the nourishment that it afforded him. He scooped a handful of meat into the patchwork bag that he’d fashioned from bits of rag and tied to his waist. Glancing around, he re-crossed the clearing toward the river where the boy waited in the shade of the trees by the riverside path.
“And how are we feeling today? Hmm?” She stopped chewing as Dr Morose cut off her view. He sat down across from her and smiled, “Feel like talking yet?”
June looked up at the Morose, remembering how his hands had lingered a little too long on her body during the examination he’d given on her arrival. She remained silent.
“Jane Grissom would like to see you after you’ve finished eating, welcome you to our little family, so to speak.”
June looked at him blankly, pushing the last piece of meat into her mouth.
“Just follow the path upriver, at the fork go right.”

Kali stretched his wings idly, scratched his breast with his beak and watched the new woman as she passed below his treetop perch.
She possessed a self-contained grace that belied the edge of fear in her eyes.
Grace.
Kali remembered Grace as she’d been before. He pictured her in front seat of the car; the magpie squawking and flapping uncontrollably in the cardboard box on his lap; Jane yelling at him, her head turned toward him, her hands on the wheel, and the steel barrier approaching fast; too fast to turn away, even with time slowed as it was to the consistency of syrup.
He turned his mind away, the memory of pain too intense to bear, he squawked once more, causing the woman to look up at him. Even from his high viewpoint, Kali could sense the kinetic energy behind her eyes and the deep sexual tension in the shape of her body.
Jane, he thought, is going to have a field day on this one.

John hunkered down next to Adam on the path and handed the bag over; the boy reached inside and began to eat ravenously. When he had finished they stood and began to follow the path upriver. They were approaching the fork when they became aware of the sound of someone’s bells behind them. Adam dragged John into the trees where they crouched down and waited. They watched through the leaves as June approached the fork, hesitated, and then followed the path toward Grissom’s house, her hips swaying sensuously.
“I don’t think we will need to worry too much about the Judiciary,” whispered Adam, “Not with her in the area.”
“I know what you mean,” said John causing the boy to blush deeply.
They listened as the sound of her bells diminished into the distance.

“Whoa Baby! You look good enough to eat.” Anubis flipped the hem of her grey dress.
“Yeah, why don’t you let me and Anubis under your little red riding hood, then afterwards we’ll show you the way to Grandma’s house gghh gghh gghh.”
The Judiciary, dressed today in fine pinstripe suits, fell in on either side of her as she hurried up the path. June felt saliva splat wet against her bare arms as the one on her left laughed, and she could smell their sex - musty and stale on the air, almost drowning out the perfume from the flowers that shimmered beside the path. She kept her head down and her stride long; feeling the anger rise within her as ‘zzzzt’ the one on the left extracted his fully erect penis from his fly.
“Care for a bite of my hotdog honey? I warmed it up specially for you, mmmm.” He licked his finger and ran it up the underside of his penis.
“Careful Osiris, you’ll have somebody’s eye out with that heh heh” quipped the one on her right.
In one fluid movement June snapped a thin overhanging branch free and whipped it round to connect with the obscenely swollen head of Osiris’ penis, he collapsed, sucking air between his teeth.
“Looks more like a cocktail sausage to me,” she muttered low. Hearing the deep ascending growl that started in Anubis’ throat to her right, she broke into a run. She worked herself up to a sprint, her bare feet fleet on the zigzag paving, the trees flashing past in a green blur. Up ahead, where the path disappeared over a blind rise, appeared a woman in a white dress; the sun shining through a gap in the canopy of trees formed a green halo behind her head. The sound of June’s pursuer dropped away suddenly and she slowed to a breathless walk. Looking back she saw Anubis heading the other way with a quick glance over his shoulder. She turned back to find herself face to face with the woman.
“You’ll have to excuse the Judiciary Ms McBride; they are, after all, only men.” She extended her hand in June’s direction; “I’m Jane Grissom, welcome to Eden.”
June looked at her and wondered how this woman had managed to stop the Judiciary’s sexual advances on herself – it certainly wasn’t a physical thing since Grissom wasn’t an unattractive woman, and anyway, that sort of animal will fuck anything. She concluded that Grissom had power, power enough to instil fear, even in the dog-men. June summoned all of her limited experience with the etiquette of power, deciding to play this one by ear; she stood on ceremony to shake the woman’s hand.
“The Judiciary, blunt as they are, are necessary to the natural order of this place,” said Grissom, “you will, however, find that that this is a democratic society.” Grissom placed a gentle but guiding hand on June’s shoulder and began to walk her down the path toward the large white house. “All things are available to all of us if we have but the courage to make it so.” She paused to take a deep breath, moving her head from side to side as if smelling the air as the walked between the roses toward the house, “Now tell me dear, do you like apple pie?”