Sacrament Read Online Free Page B

picture - his patience
was legendary. In this, as in so many other things, he was a paradox. Adrianna had seen him at publishing
parties grinding his teeth with boredom after five minutes of an admirer's chit-chat; but here, watching four
polar bears on a piece of wasteland, he would sit happily mesmerized until he found the moment he wanted to
seize.
    It was plain he was not interested in either the adolescents or the female. It was the old male he wanted to
photograph. He glanced over at Adrianna, and silently indicated the path he was going to take between the other
animals, so as to get as close to his subject as possible. She'd no sooner nodded her comprehension than Will
was off, sure-footed even on the ice-slickened dirt. The adolescents took no notice of him. But the female, who
was certainly large enough to kill either Will or Adrianna with a swipe if she took a mind to do so, ceased her
investigations of the truck and sniffed the air. Will froze; Adrianna did the same, rifle at the ready if the bear
made an aggressive move. But perhaps because she'd smelt so many people in the vicinity of the dump, the bear
wasn't interested in this particular scent. She returned to gutting the truck seats, and Will was off again, towards
the male. By now Adrianna had grasped the shot Will was after: a low angle, looking up the slope of the hillock
so as to frame the bear against the sky, a fool-king perched on a throne of shit. It was the kind of image Will had
built his reputation upon. The whole paradoxical story, captured in a picture so indelible and so inevitable, that
it seemed evidence of collusion with God. More often than not such happy accidents were the fruit of obsessive
observation. But once in a while, as now, they presented themselves as gifts. All he had to do was snatch them.
    Typically, of course (how she cursed his machismo sometimes) he was going to position himself so close to the
base of the hillock that if the animal decided to come after him he'd be in trouble. Creeping close to the ground
he found his spot. The animal was either unaware of, or indifferent to, his proximity; it was half turned from
him, casually licking dirt off its paws. But Adrianna knew from experience such appearances could be
dangerously deceptive. The wild did not always like to be scrutinized, however discreetly. Far less adventurous
photographers than Will had lost their limbs or their lives by taking an animal's insouciance for granted. And of
all the creatures Will had photographed, there was none with a more terrible reputation than the polar bear. If
the male chose to come after Will, Adrianna would have to bring the beast down in one shot, or it would all be
over.
    Will had by now found a niche at the very base of the hillock that suited him perfectly. The bear was still
licking its paws, its face now almost entirely turned away from the camera. Adrianna glanced back at the other
animals. All three were happily engrossed in their sports, but that was of little comfort. The geography of the
dump allowed for there to be any number of other animals scavenging close by yet out of sight. Not for the first
time she wished she'd been born with the eyes of a chameleon: side-rigged and independently maneuvered.
    She looked back at Will. He had crept up the slope just a little, and had his camera poised. The bear, meanwhile,
had given up cleaning its paws, and was lazily surveying its wretched domain. Adrianna willed it to move its
rump; turn twenty degrees clockwise and give Will his picture. But it simply raised its scarred snout into the air
and yawned, its black velvet lips curling back as it did so. Its teeth, like its hide, were a record of the battles it
had fought. Many of them were splintered and several others missing; its gums were abscessed and raw. No
doubt it was in constant pain, which probably did nothing for the sweetness of its mood.
    The animal's yawn afforded Will a chance to move three