#inner moonlight

Here is a snippet from Inner Moonlight, my beatnik werewolf story. 

“So he’s an east coaster and a west coaster. He’s irish and he’s mexican. He’s a farm boy and a city boy. Got the best grades in the class and was also on the verge of getting kicked out for fighting,” Joanie said.

“Fightin’? No,” Max said. He rose from the armchair and draped himself across Happy’s lap, with his head landing in Joanie’s lap. 

Joanie unscrewed the cap of Max’s flask and then shook it, signaling Max to open his mouth. He obliged and she fountained a thin stream of whiskey into his mouth. 

With Max in his lap, Happy was not sure what to do with his hands. Max did him a favor and grabbed Happy’s hands and clung them to his chest.

“Say it ain’t so!” Max said. 

Happy shook his head and for the first time Max noticed that he had dimples when he smiled. 

“I’m afraid I can’t. It’s true,” Happy said. 

Happy had never started a fight. He’d only defended himself when he’d found it impossible to hide what he truly was and people tried to punish him for it. Though his teachers never had any trouble blaming him anyway. 

“He was the valedictorian of his high school class, but they didn’t let him give the speech,” Joanie said. 

“I wouldn’t have wanted to get up there anyway,” Happy murmured. 

“That’s not the point,” Joanie said.

This entire conversation was a record with well worn grooves in their mind, like stage magician’s patter.

“The point-” Joanie held up her finger. She handed the flask back to Max and pulled out her lighter and a pack of cigarettes-”the point is, that they were scared of what he might say. Terrified that he would get up there and tell the truth. Because he sees it.” She lit a cigarette and then jabbed it at Max. “Believe that.”

Max lifted his head off Joanie’s lap and looked at Happy. “Oh, I do.”

After that, they settled into a comfortable silence. Joanie raked her fingers through Max’s hair. Max traced the lines of Happy’s hand, over and over. Happy rested his head on Joanie’s shoulder. 

Happy fell asleep first. Max stared at his unschooled face, so beautiful and innocent.  Joanie and Max shared a cigarette and talked. The gaps in the conversation grew larger and larger until they were gulfs. 

Then, Joanie looked down to ask Max a question and saw he’d dropped off as well. 

Joanie took a deep breath and felt something inside her chest let go, a breath she’d been holding her whole life, a grip on her heart finally loosening, like she was truly comfortable for the first time, surrounded by the reassuring weight of the two men. 

'Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness.'

Allen Ginsberg ..

I’m on vacation so I’m doing 2 WIP weds this week!! This snippet is from my beatnik werewolf story, Inner Moonlight

Rita turned to face Joanie, Happy, and Maxie. They stood before her, giggly and collectively listing to the left.  The three headed monster had already been formed when no one was looking. 

“Well, you three certainly didn’t waste any time. Do I dare offer you a drink?”

She did indeed dare. And then the party was finally able to kick off properly, now that the guest of honor had finally arrived, two hours late. 

Joanie took her usual post over by the record player and Max pulled Rita over to a bare spot on the floor to dance. Happy leaned against the wall next to Lee.

“You’re all starry eyed,” Lee said. 

Happy tucked his chin down and smiled. “He’s sweet.”

Lee finished the final page of corrections and turned around to watch Rita and Max dance. “Oh, I’m sure he is.”

Max’s tight t-shirt clung to his back in the summer heat. He twirled Rita again and again and again. She screamed with laughter and ignored her husband’s scowl. Max was August’s friend, so for a moment Max acted as a conduit and Rita could almost pretend she was dancing with August. She needed that. And Max was quite good at knowing what people needed. 

He had Joanie clocked within moments. Joanie liked to feel smart, but this didn’t mean she wanted some fawning fan to hang on her every word. She liked to be challenged. He’d seen the way the furnace inside her lit up when she was getting scolded by Lee, because she couldn’t bullshit him. She had to actually use that fine machine between her ears instead of running circles around everyone around her. She’d been bored so much of her life that she would never stand for it again. 

Happy, paradoxically, was harder. In fact, to Max’s horror, Happy didn’t seem to need anything from him. He gave Max no shape to shift into and so Max was left an amorphous blob in his presence. 

My hunger for validation knows no bounds. I am posting a snippet from my other WIP. It’s not a fic, it’s an original story about werewolf beatniks called Inner Moonlight. 

She typed a line. It’s my job to kill the monster. 

Then she pushed herself back away from her desk. She stretched out her arms and legs in front of her. “Let’s have a party tonight.”

“Really?” Lee asked. 

Lee and Joanie loved parties. It was one of the things that had first drawn them to each other. But for the last few years she’d refused to go to any, let alone throw any. 

“Yeah. Been too long since we had a Lee and Joanie Special.”

When Joanie and Lee first got married they’d thrown a Lee and Joanie Special monthly, if not weekly. You’d almost think nothing had changed. That Maxie still came around and Happy smiled more. But the booze was expensive and their jazz no longer came on scratchy 45’s. So it was impossible to forget that things had changed. Then David died. And Rita followed; they’d never been able to stay away from each other for long. And so the Lee and Joanie Specials had stopped. Lee sometimes invited his students over for a night. Do a few readings. Drink some scotch. Maybe even smoke some grass if they were feeling particularly fine. But it was a far cry from the Times Square days. And so even that eventually faded into nothing. 

“Should I invite Happy?”

“Sure,” she said. She only said yes because Happy had said in his last letter that he was spending a few weeks in New York, a lecture series on poetry. “Invite John-John as well,” Joanie said. She poked her fingers into a few empty cigarette packs scattered on her desk. Then she finally emerged with a cigarette. She clamped the filter between her teeth and lit it. 

Lee’s eyes widened in surprise behind his thick black framed glasses. Joanie did not like his lover. She thought he was stupid and Lee could do better and she made no secret of it. He sensed a trap and resolved to tell her that John-John was busy. There would be sneering of course, “oh my, his social calendar must be so full”. But better that, than have her embarrass all three of them in front of a house full of guests. At least he could limit the damage to himself and Joanie. Leave out the innocent bystanders. 

― 𝓐𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓷 𝓖𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓫d𝓮𝓻𝓰