Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block Read Free Book Online Page B

was so gorgeous. I used to walk to Schwab’s and have a hamburger and a milkshake for dinner, and I’d swivel around and around on the barstool reading Wonder Woman comics and planning how it would be when I became a star. But what I really wanted was a Charlie Bat. I alwaysloved that man. What happened, Weetzie?”
    Weetzie hugged Brandy-Lynn. She felt greasy from the suntan oil and her shoulders felt very small.
    “He loved you too, Brandy-Lynn,” Weetzie said. “Now that’s enough.” She took away the bottle of vodka. “Let’s go out for some health food.”
    “Did he really?” Brandy-Lynn said. A blurry lipstick smile showed through her blue-mascara-tinted tears. “I haven’t been a very good mother, have I?”
    “You are a wonderful mother.”
    “He was the man of my dreams….”
     
    At the end of Shangri-L.A. , Weetzie played a scene in which the starlet shoots up so she can get back to the dream city. After she dies of an overdose in her apartment, she is transported back. In the final scene, she is reunited with the Charlie Chaplin bass player, and the band performs “Love Warrior” in a Casablanca nightclub filled with fans, fronds, and fireflies. Then darkness.
    “This film is dedicated to the memory of Charlie Bat,” it said on the screen.

Love Is a Dangerous Angel
    One day, Duck came home crying. Weetzie and My Secret Agent Lover Man and even Dirk had never seen Duck cry before, except when Charlie Bat died. They all sat very still and looked at him. Then Dirk got up from the couch and tried to hug him, but Duck pulled away, ran to the blue bedroom, and shut the door.
    “Ducky. Duckling. Rubber Duck,” Weetzie called.
    Dirk got very quiet and kept knocking on the door.
    Cherokee and Witch Baby began to cry and My Secret Agent Lover Man took them in his arms.
    Duck would not come out. They said they were going to Mr. Pizza and then rent Casablanca on VHS, but he would not come out. They said they were going surfing in the morning, but he would not come out. Finally, after midnight, Dirk tried the door and found it was unlocked. He got into bed next to Duck and looked at the sweatshirt with the picture of Howdy Doody (Duck wore it backward because, otherwise, he said, it kept him awake), and at the blonde hair and the boxer shorts with ducks on them thathe had bought for Duck for Valentine’s Day, but he didn’t touch Duck. It was as if they were far away from each other and he didn’t know why. Dirk watched Howdy Doody rise and fall with each sleep breath until Dirk fell asleep, too.
    In the morning, Duck wasn’t there. Dirk jumped out of bed, his pounding heart making him dizzy. He ran outside in his boxers and saw that Duck’s bug was not there. He ran back inside and saw a note on the table:
    Dear Weetzie, My Secret Agent Lover Man, Cherokee, Witch Baby and my dearest, most darling Dirk ,
    I found out yesterday that my friend Bam-Bam is sick. He is really sick. The world is too scary right now. Even though we’re okay, how can anyone love anyone when you could kill them just by loving them? I love you all too much. I’m going away for a while. I will never forget you. And Dirk, I will always love you more than anyone .
    Duck
    Dirk grabbed his clothes and keys and ran outside and jumped in Jerry. He drove all over the city that day and Weetzie and My Secret Agent Lover Man called all their friends and the restaurants, bars, and stores where Duck hung out. Valentine and Ping made flyers and had them posted all over the city. But there was no trace of Duck.
    Dirk came home the next morning unshaven and withdark circles around his eyes. He had been driving around all night.
    “I went to the picnic tables on Zuma Beach where we used to sleep, and I went to Rage and Revolver and Guitar Center and El Coyote and Val Surf, and I called everyone. I went to the hospital where Bam-Bam is. No one knew anything. No one’s seen him,” Dirk said in a monotone. He collapsed on the couch.
    Weetzie