Spiral

‘sessions.’”
    ”What do these interludes involve?”
    ”Mostly talking.” Held took some more coffee. ”Sometimes we’ll be sitting like we are now—across from each other, I mean, but facing each other, too. Other times, Malinda has me lie down on the couch—the way I was when you came in before.”
    ”And still mostly talk?”
    ”Yes. Oh, maybe once in a while, Malinda will walk over and kneel down next to the couch, hold my hand. Or move her fingers in circles on my head.”
    ”Circles?”
    ”Like so.” Held put down her mug again, then brought both middle fingers up to her temples and massaged gently in a circular motion. ”But mostly we just talk. Or I do.”
    ”Ms. Dujong doesn’t say much herself?”
    ”No.” Held lowered her hands to the countertop. ”Malinda’s way of advising is more asking you to tell her how you feel, where the stress is coming from, and then finding out how you can vent it.”
    ”The stress.”
    ”Right. Exercise, diet, even confronting the people causing it.”
    ”Confronting them, Jeanette?”
    ”Actually, that’s my word.” More coffee. ”Malinda’s always nudging me to talk things out with people, get their side and show them mine.”
    Pretty much common sense. ”What’s the spiritual part of it?”
    ”Not to keep things in. Malinda says it muffles the spirit, takes oxygen away from the flame we all have burning inside us. She’s told me, you use your mouth to let out the bad feelings, the head and the heart won’t burst.”
    ”So, who have you talked with?”
    A strange look. ”Malinda.”
    ”I mean, who were the people causing you stress?”
    ”Oh. Spi’d be number one.”
    I felt the ice under me getting a little thin, but I said, ”Because?”
    A resigned laugh. ”He thinks he’s this real liberated guy. ‘Woodstock showed us the way,’ you know? Well, I’ve seen videos of that, and it looked to me like everybody was just muddy and stoned. Besides, Spi’s a throwback on the husband/wife thing. ‘Stay at home, raise our daughter, and spend the rest of your time in the kitchen.’ I told him, ‘Wrong squaw, white man.’”
    ”Were there any other strains on your marriage, Jeanette?’ Another laugh, this one jaded. ”What, you asking if Spi s been fucking around on me?”
    Bowie seemed to sense the change in tone, but just lifted his head without making any sound.
    I said, ”If that’s what you suspect.”
    Held started to drink more coffee, then spit it back into her mug. ”Cold.” She got up, went to the microwave, and put Goofy into the enclosure. As the timer beeped merrily along, Held turned back to me. ”Look, Spi’s been in a rock band since the time he was—what, fifteen? It’s the only life he knows. Hell, it’s probably the only life he thinks exists. Would Spi pork some teenybopper who came on to him at a club? Sure. That’s how I met him, for Christ sake. But, was he ready to bail on Very and me for another ‘tunnel of love’? No, especially not with Spiral’s comeback and all.”
    ”Wouldn’t being separated from you make his life on the road... easier?”
    ”You mean, for fucking around? Maybe, but Very would have put the wood to him if she’d noticed, and he’d know that. She was my baby, but she enjoyed having power over people. And besides, Spi screws around too much, maybe the Colonel pulls out of the angel business, leaves us all high and dry.”
    The microwave binged a ready signal. Held didn’t seem to notice.
    I said, ”Any other people beyond your husband who put stress on you?”
    ”Well, it’s not the easiest thing in the world being in the same house as his brother.”
    ”David.”
    ”Yeah, David. I mean, he’s like a ghost who’s real, you know?”
    ”Meaning you’re afraid of him?”
    ”Meaning he’s just... there. Every time we’d go over to the Colonel’s, you’d either see David ducking around a corner, or think you did.”
    I knew what she meant. ”But no danger from him?”
    ”David? The only thing scared of him ought to be any bugs that try to eat his plants.”
    ”Any other sources of stress, Jeanette?”
    ”On me?”
    ”Right.”
    She glanced out the sliding glass doors, toward where Buford Biggs was still lying on the lounge. ”Try living with your husband and three other guys think they’re twenty-one again. No.” Held came back to me. ”No, that’s not fair. Ricky Queen’s got his head on straight, even if he is queer. But at least he’s got