Make Willing the Prey (Dreams by Streetlight) Read Online Free Page A

lousy DJ,” Jina complained.
    “So audition.  I think they play
rock and that sort of thing on Mondays.”
    “They won’t give us a gig.  We
don’t have a big enough name yet.  It’s all we can do to get onto open mic
stages.”
    Sandy sipped slowly at her Mai
Tai while Jina enthusiastically ordered her third drink.  The Mai Tai had only
begun to make her face tingle when she saw the Gregorelli boy pushing his way
through the crowd with another vase full of red roses.
    “Whoa.”  Jina turned to see where
she pointed.
    “Ms. Windham?  Another delivery.”
    “Thank you,” Sandy said, as she
accepted the flowers and accompanying packages with excitement.  One contained
a jar of caviar, imported.  The other held a gold bracelet and another note
which she eagerly read to herself.
     
    Dearest Sandy:
     
    Go out to the alley,
    Go out with some chalk.
    Try not to run.
    To play you must walk.
    On the wall by your car
    Draw with chalk and with ease
    A vase with some roses
    Can you do this please?
     
    S.A.
     
    “What does it say?” Jina slurred.
    “I’m not going to tell.  Hmm... 
Caviar.  I’ve never tried this stuff.”
    “I have.  It’s too salty.  But it’s
ok on crackers.”
    “I’ll have to get some crackers,
then.”
    “There’s pretzels there.  That’d
be yummy.”
    Sandy smiled and put on the
bracelet.  Jina was cute when she was drunk, even if she did have a tendency to
get into trouble.  It was then that she spotted Stan across the room.  He saw
her too, and she tried to hide Jina from him, but it was too late.  He came
towards them.
    “Uh, Jina,” she began to warn.
    “ Stan! ” Jina shouted and
ran to embrace him.  “Stan!  Where have you been?”
    Sandy watched disgustedly as Stan
made some sort of flowery apology for being a jerk.  Jina melted all over him
like goo, and allowed herself to be taken out to the dance floor. 
    “Bleh, I can’t bear to watch.” 
She turned to the bartender.  “Uhm, hey.  Would you happen to have any chalk?”
    “Sure.  What color?”  He held out
a wide variety of chalks that were used to write the drink specials on the
blackboard.
    “Can I borrow them all?  In
exchange, I’ll let you keep this stuff hostage until I get back.”  She motioned
to the roses and the caviar.
    “Ah, sure.  Why not.  But you
have to buy another drink.”
    “I’ll buy two more.”
    With the deal settled, Sandy left
the club.  Her car was parked half a block down the street.  She felt a little
nervous out in the night all alone, but it wasn’t so bad, considering she had
parked under a street lamp.
    She chose a color and dragged the
dusty chalk over the bumpy brick wall.  Fortunately, she had taken a drawing
class with Jina once, and managed to compose a fairly decent four-foot color
rendition of three rosebuds in a slender vase.
    Deciding that she had better get
back to Jina, she went back into the bar and returned the chalk.  Her roses and
caviar were untouched, but Jina didn’t seem to have been so lucky.  She and Stan
were making out on Sandy’s barstool.
    “Uh, excuse me Stan, but I’d like
to sit back down here.”
    “Fuck off.”
    “Stan!” Jina chided.  “Be nice.”
    “Fine, take it.”  He spun the
stool around as if that would be cool, and sat down on the other side of Jina. 
They resumed sucking face.
    Sandy reached down the bar and
pulled a bowl of pretzels closer.  The jar of caviar popped as the seal broke. 
She dipped a pretzel into the red, lumpy gel and took a bite.
    “I think I’m going to be sick,”
she said between mouthfuls.
    Jina muttered, “That stuff takes
a while to get used to,” from under Stan’s lips.
    “I wasn’t talking about the
caviar.  I was talking about you, Jina.”
    “Huh?  Oh, sorry, Sandy.  I didn’t
mean to ignore you.”  She giggled.
    Sandy sighed in resignation, and
decided it was pointless to try to talk to Jina when she was in this state.
    “You know what this place