| Here I am in one of those outback tin-shed pubs | | | | the betting like you've never seen, and finally; he'd |
| that I will forget by next month, thinking about | | | | win.The minutes stretch. Men are riled by the |
| why I ride from one dirt-hole to another. Do I | | | | distractions Ryas imposes on the game. Grete, a |
| imagine I enjoy the gambling and cheap booze so | | | | meaty moron, bangs the table. "Shut off the |
| much? Or won't I admit that I need Ryas?Even | | | | cream and deal us boys! Your blabbering is making |
| my horse is tired. All I can do is lick up what Ryas | | | | us edgy!"His face was glossy with horse sweat. I |
| offers me, and observe every particle of life that | | | | did not want to look into his intense, black eyes. |
| he silently lures me to. He came from Georgia to | | | | Raw savagery, I thought. Don't tangle with the |
| New South Wales, exuding an unspeakable force. | | | | Irish.We all waited in tenseness for a blank |
| Men preferred death to facing his mind, but I | | | | moment, knowing that Ryas would push and |
| craved the flames.The air in this shantytown pub | | | | tantalize."Oh, are we all a might tired then? Maybe |
| never gets any fresher. I breathe in the muck | | | | we should have ourselves a nap to restore our |
| and watch the dust dancing in beams of sunlight | | | | nerves. No use getting excited over a game now |
| that come from cracks in the plank walls. | | | | --- is there? Just a bit of fun. Let's rest |
| Forever, it seems, I am playing the rounds with | | | | awhile."Playacting the fool, he stretches back, |
| Ryas Leefman, cultivator of my obsession.I watch | | | | pretending sleep. My mouth gaped. Grete hunches |
| him misspending his life; his eyes sensuous pits of | | | | there in a stupor, not understanding that his rump |
| the beastly unknown. We are matched in elegance | | | | was getting a mule's kick up it.Some knotty thief |
| --- feral creatures, profiting from a vocation that | | | | stands in defiance. "I'll make eyelets in your fancy |
| strokes the soul in either way we choose. Ryas, | | | | shirt Ryas!" he promises, fumbling out his clunky |
| volcanic and refined, steals the blood of men like a | | | | gun."And I'll button your head through your rear, |
| prankish whore. My manhood is a mere nub that | | | | sir" was the awakened reply."Eyelets and buttons? |
| is left clanging at his pull.Yes, he is handsome. His | | | | Is this the ladies' sewing circle?" spits another of |
| erect ego curls my trigger-finger. I want to kill | | | | the boys, leaving with coward's haste.The jittery |
| him. I'll send him out in a rhapsody of lead I think, | | | | barkeeper rushes over a bottle of gambler's tonic, |
| as he shuffles the deck, lubricating the cards with | | | | knowing the time is appropriate to muzzle Ryas. |
| his appeal. Watching him wrings my liver out.His girl | | | | "A flush of liquor, Ryas?" he said, showing the label |
| is next to him, posing like a ripe tart -- her flimsy | | | | to be his bush best."Fill my vessel" said Ryas, |
| elegance deodorizing the poker circle. He kneads | | | | always the winner.Fiendishly he dispatched a toast, |
| the vulgar tassels that dangle cheaply from her | | | | pointing the finger of Zeus at the snorting Grete |
| scooped neckline. "Splendiferous, my dear'" comes | | | | who was inhaling anger in strangles. "Here's to the |
| his approval of her whorish looks. Ryas cuts me a | | | | belly of Jupiter, my friend. Suckle the wine and |
| look. His poetic speech seems ridiculous in this | | | | baste yourself in marrow."Confusion set on |
| blasted shack.He is aroused; searching the faces | | | | Grete's mottled face. "Your words is rot Leefman! |
| of nowhere men. He always liked to string | | | | I'll be danged if you peg my ass. Are we a playing |
| common bushrangers along, baffling them with his | | | | or not?"Ryas elasticized his southern accent. "I'm |
| smooth, easy talk. He'd pass around acrid whiskey | | | | genuine. |
| and tobacco to get us all tame, then fiddle with | | | | |