Flesh destruction frogs
How are we to explain the fact that what repels us most can be at times—at the same time—inordinately attractive? Why is the cobra poised to strike so beautiful? The fascination of the abomination is something that. . . . Something which we would rather not account for. The subject borders on the obscene, and there is no need to deal with it here, except to note the breathless wonder with which Marcia observed these first roaches of hers. Her chair was drawn so close to the sink that she could see the mottling of their oval, unsegmented bodies, the quick scuttering of their thin legs, and the quicker flutter of their antennae. They moved randomly, proceedingnowhere, centered nowhere. They seemed greatly disturbed over nothing.Perhaps, Marcia thought,my presence has a morbid effect on them? Well, Ill be god-damned, said Chico, slowly, gripping the strainer in his big fists before him. Look here, boy, don’t you know the facts? You and me, we’ll be here come the year 2000. A couple of crazy dumb old gooney-birds drying their bones in the sun. Nothing’s ever going to happen to us now, Tom, it’s too late. Get that through your head and shut up.” Her faint fear of little Ashs hands becoming a handicap after all was dissipated. He could grasp, clutch, hold, manipulate, throw better than any other child of his age. (Some years later he became the best pitcher Evarts County had ever known; he had a facing curve no opposing batter ever caught onto.) Without precocity he talked early; he learned his father’s speech so well he eventually outdistanced Nan; she listened with maternal and wifely complacency as they hummed subtleties beyond her understanding. He emptied the glass in one long swallow, sloshed rather a lot more into it, and put the bottle away. Whistling softly, he strolled through the dark apartment to the bedroom. Bedrooms in which only men have slept smell of socks; bedrooms in which men and women have slept smell only of women. At least, to men. He lay down on his side of the bed, occasionally sipping at his drink, for quite a long time. He stared at the ceiling, and let his mind wander, as men under such circumstances are prone to do, back over the good times, the very good times. He closed his eyes . . . The added years of service were so many added tails to the cat repeatedly laid on my back. I cant see his face now; I never can. No, said Penrose, Im not grousing about my belongings. Let’s go back to the fact that I’m only thirty-four years old. I don’t belong here.” I had to admire my taste in this world. She was a big girl, tall and not quite slim; black-haired and with a very fair complexion; quite a pretty face with a single vertical frown line between her brows; and she had an absolutely gorgeous figure with long handsome legs.Why, hel-lo, I said slowly. “What a preposterously good-looking female you are!” The sun was hot, but as they neared the beach there began to be a breeze and she could smell the sea. She began to feel as she had the very first time she had seen it. She had been born in Ohio and she was twelve before she had taken a trip and come out on the wide, flat, sunny sands and smelled this smell. It all began during one of those official receptions which are such a feature of social life in eastern capitals. Theyre even more common in the west, of course, but in Colombo there’s little competing entertainment. At least once a week, if you are anybody, you get an invitation to cocktails at an embassy or legation, the British Council, the U.S. Operations Mission, L’Alliance Française, or one of the countless alphabetical agencies the UN has begotten. Then there was Swifty Zavrakos, a little man with greying hair whose face was a kind of permanent exhibition of every known variety of nervous tic; he was our lawyer and a real walking encyclopedia of waterfront history; he could give you from memory the names of all the organizers, the sentences each had served and even the caliber of the guns they used. About recruiting, Harrison said to Penrose. Ozma will record all the radio whispers it gets from these most promising star systems and look for some pattern hidden in the whispers.Any sounds repeated, in sequence, would draw our attention. If we heard, for instance, three dots, seven dots, three dots, seven dots, over and over, again and again, we would be alerted immediately. Well, Commandant, he said, forcing himself at last to look up into the dark, unchanging features, youre here on Earth for a visit, we understand.” The period doesnt seem to be important. It is only important that a satellite be in position to receive and retransmit. Sabina said,I dont suppose there’s any chance that she herself could be the culprit? "Why? Why?" Monica said. "So full of hope. So vibrant and so dynamic. At the beginning of her career." I took her to the Persian Room to watch Hildegarde. One day not long ago my wife called me to the phone.Its Tom, she said. Of course I remember. That child will never be a Michelangelo, she sighed heavily. Is he asleep now?”.
