122809.fb2 Feeding Frenzy - читать онлайн бесплатно полную версию книги . Страница 53

Feeding Frenzy - читать онлайн бесплатно полную версию книги . Страница 53

He blinked blearily at the motel room ceiling. He knew it was the ceiling because it was white. If it had been another color, it would have been the floor. Clancy had awakened with his burst-capillaried nose pressed into many a hotel room rug in his long lifetime of public service. Once, he had awakened in a standing position, his face against a wall. Naked.

The phone was still ringing and he flopped an arm to the night table, knocking the receiver loose. Over the muffled voice he mistook for his wife, he distinctly heard the dial tone hum.

And the phone rang again.

It was then Clancy realized it was not the motel room phone summoning him, and he found his motivation. He rolled over on the horribly lumpy mattress and the muffled voice suddenly broke into clearly audible gasps.

Clancy looked over his pimpled shoulder.

And there on the bed-the bed which his bloated body had completely dominated-lay a spread-eagled woman whose flattened breasts resembled giant pink sunnyside-up fried eggs. Her breathing came in spasmodic gulps.

"I thought I was going to suffocate," she wheezed.

"You're not my wife! Who are you?"

The woman bolted up. "You bastard! Don't you remember?"

"No," admitted Ned Clancy, reaching over to yank off the fuzzy blue ball she wore over her head.

"I still don't recognize you," he muttered.

"I'm Jane Goodwoman, you sexist swine!"

"Oink. Oink. Didn't I pork you once before this?"

"You don't remember!"

"All women look alike to me-above the neck."

Jane Goodwoman grabbed up her clothes and stumbled into the bathroom. She slammed the door after her and Ned Clancy rolled off the bed and onto his jacket, which he had hung up for the night by dropping on the carpet. He fumbled for the cellular phone clipped to the lining.

"Hello?" he undertoned, one eye on the closed bathroom door.

A thin female voice he knew well said, "This is the Eldress, Senator Clancy."

"Keep it low. I'm not alone."

"It is time."

"What is?"

"Clear your brain, fool. If you go to Nirvana West, you will find the Harvesters have departed this mortal vale. Go there. Make a speech. Blame their deaths on Human Environmental Liability Paradox and swear an oath to get to the bottom of it all."

"What about the growing hole in the ozone layer?"

"There is no hole."

Clancy drywashed his bloated face. "You mean the whale was right?"

"Never mind him," the thin voice snapped. "After your speech, fly home."

"Home Cape Cod or home Washington?"

"To Washington. You must ram the HELP bill through the Senate, and increase your prestige."

"Why?"

"That is not for you to know. But go quickly. There is no time to lose."

"You're not my wife, are you?"

"I am not your wife. You would know your wife's voice, would you not?

"Just checking. Sometimes I'm not even sure you're a woman."

"Why do you say that?"

"You got too much balls to be a woman."

"I will take that as a compliment," said the voice of the Eldress. "Your plane is waiting for you at San Francisco International Airport. Everything is in readiness."

"What about, you know who?"

"The whale?"

"Yeah. Him."

"The whale has been beached. His ultimate fate is for the Eldress to decide, not you. You are only a pawn in the great plan."

"Now you remind me of my father-pushing. Always pushing. He never let me have any fun."

"I am not your father, Senator Clancy. And if you do not do as I say, I will release to the media the tape recording of your drunken confession. The girl was only fifteen. Remember?"

"Not clearly," Ned Clancy said honestly.

"She never saw sixteen. She never saw the age of consent. Do you recall the day you confided the indescretion to your father? It broke his heart. After that, he would not eat. You were the last politically viable son he had. After that day, he allowed himself to slowly starve to death."

Senator Ned J. Clancy shuddered uncontrollably.

"My mother will kill me if it all comes out," he croaked.

"Obey, then. Obey the Eldress. I am your truth."

The line went dead and Ned Clancy tried to pull his clothes on in a way that made it clear he didn't quite recognize them.

From one wall of the motel room, the hard sound of a cane rapping against plaster came insistently.

"Coming, Mother!" Ned Clancy called.