 |
You can read the real deal in Deathbird Stories, if you wish.
ON THE DOWNHILL SIDE
"The narrator is walking with his unicorn one night in New Orleans when a beautiful young woman beckons to the animal and it goes to her (so we know she's a virgin). The two humans walk the streets, have coffees at the Caf� du Monde, a julep at the Royal Orleans Hotel, visit a nightclub -- all the time trading stories of their lives. The narrator, Paul Ordahl, was an architect whose first wife went insane, and whose mother-in-law blamed him (as he is tempted to blame himself). After his third marriage ended, he committed suicide. Lizette relates tales about a string of men who loved her, and a marriage of convenience to a wealthy New Orleans property owner. They are both ghosts and, Paul gradually realizes, opposite sides of the same coin in the way they misspent their lives. He thinks they can help each other, and this night is their one chance (the unicorn's, too), but it's not clear how or to what purpose, and it doesn't look as if Lizette is going to come through for him. The unicorn, a familiar assigned to accompany Paul everywhere, is patient but concerned, and Paul has to remind him that soon they will be "on the downhill side," which follows midnight. The climax occurs in the world-famous Saint Louis Cemetery, the perfect, ancient graveyard where bodies are laid in crypts above ground because the water table is only 18 inches below the surface of the city.
And a sacrifice will be demanded." (David Loftus, reviewer).
Maybe you're right, after all.
|
Stories
Poll
