Quink

讒

Quink
By H. Courreges LeBlanc
13 May 2002

Alexia would be here for the Todd any minute. I was about to squirt the boog in when I heard a cop clump up the back stairs, dragging Pink Jenny behind him. They were two flights down, but Pink Jenny was screaming her throat raw. I wondered which cop it was this time, come to squeeze another trick. Probably Gastineau.
I squirted the boog in. The Todd twitched all over, damn near grand mal. Pissed itself too. But I was in a hurry.
The Todd draped its legs over the edge of the table and hung its head between its knees. It wasn't breathing yet. "Go upstairs and put some clothes on," I said, kicking its shin. It didn't move. "Go on. I'll buzz you when I'm ready for you."
"Do you have any idea who my daddy is?" Pink Jenny shrieked. "I'll have your badge -- I'll have your fucking balls on a skewer. Ow!"
The Todd, finally breathing, lurched to its feet and shambled toward the stairs. A boog this complex took a while for a retread like the Todd to soak up, and until it did it would be pretty shaky. Retreads were a royal pain -- much higher maintenance, more bribes, more hassles from the cops. But I could field a dozen retreads for the cost of one catalog slug -- Dixie DNA's catalog items were for the hobbyist, not for the trade. Not any trade I could afford, anyway.
Before the Todd was halfway to the door, Pink Jenny stumbled in, followed by the cop. It was that thug Gastineau, of course, smirking as he shoved Pink Jenny down onto the floor. He would definitely try to squeeze a trick. No point in being nice.
"Hey maggie," I said coolly.
"Don't you maggie me, quink," Gastineau said. "How many times I told you to keep your yigs off Decatur?"
"Who are you calling a yig?" Pink Jenny said. "I'm Lourdes Villard -- I'm the Count's daughter."
"Jenny, shut up," I told her, and she shut. I put that trope in all my boogs. Her eyes were still spitting fire but her lips could only squirm like eels.
The Todd was trying to maneuver around Gastineau and Pink Jenny; it kept bumping into the wall. "Let it past," I said.
"Aw, fuck him," Gastineau said, shoving the Todd onto the floor next to Pink Jenny. It lay on its side, facing the wall, sawing its legs in confusion. "I ain't joking about keeping these yigs off Decatur."
I brushed past Gastineau and helped the Todd to its feet.
"I'm talking to you, quink," Gastineau said.
But I ignored him and shepherded the Todd to the stairwell. I couldn't let Alexia see it this way. Anyway, why shouldn't I make Gastineau wait? Finally, when the Todd was climbing the stairs in its docile torpor, I turned back to Gastineau. "Look, maggie. The trick loaded Jenny into a boat just after lunch. Said she wanted her till dawn tomorrow."
"Well, this yig was rampaging around the Cotillion ten minutes ago," Gastineau said. "Trying to find the Count."
I shrugged.
"You got a bad attitude," Gastineau said. "If the Count finds out you booged his daughter, he'll have your ass."
"Don't you know better than to try to scare a quink, maggie?" I said. "Besides, who you think booged her in the first place?"
That shut him up. These cops held the Count in almost superstitious awe, but I knew better. Gastineau just glared at the wall, trying not to think about why the Count had booged his own daughter.
"Charming as all this is, maggie," I said, "I'm busy. So kindly get thee the fuck thither."
"Stop calling me maggie, goddammit," he growled.
I shrugged.
"One day, quink," he said, "the Count's gonna stop protecting you. I'll be waiting for that day."
"On that day," I said, "a two-bit crooked cop like you will be the least of my troubles."
Pink Jenny clambered to her feet and made a dash for the stairwell.
"Damn," Gastineau said, and dove after her.
She had one arm through the door when he slammed into her. She raked her nails across his cheek. He grabbed a fistful of that lush cashew-colored hair that made Pink Jenny so popular, twisted her arm behind her in a vicious half nelson, and dragged her up to my face.
"Dump the boog," he said, twisting the fistful of hair. "Bring up the base personality. I'm gonna make that bitch pay."
"For what a boog did? Even you aren't that stupid."
He shoved Pink Jenny toward me, twisting her hair in his fist. "Dump the boog, quink, before I decide to take it out on you."
Pink Jenny jerked her head back and around, tearing some hair out, and sank her teeth into his forearm.
"Jenny, listen," I said. Pink Jenny immediately stopped struggling and turned to face me. I leaned in, my lips