And the Angels Sing Read Online Free PDF Page A

there was an iridescence, a rainbow of pastel colors that shimmered and gleamed. Eddie sucked in his breath as the new growth moved, opened slightly, more.
    There wasn't enough room in the cabin for her to open the wings all the way. She stretched them from wall to wall. They looked like gauze, filmy, filled with light that was alive. Not realizing he was moving, Eddie was drawn to one of the wings, reached out to touch it. It was as hard as steel, and cool. She turned her golden liquid eyes to him, and drew her wings in again.
    "We'll go someplace where it's warm," Eddie said hoarsely. "I'll hide you. I'll smuggle you somehow. They can't have you!"
    She walked through the living room to the door and studied the handle for a moment. As she reached for it, he lumbered after her, lunged toward her, but already she was opening the door, slipping out.
    "Stop! You'll freeze. You'll die!" In the clearing of the forest, with sunlight slanting through the giant trees, she spun around, lifted her face upward, and then opened her wings all the way.
    As effortlessly as a butterfly, or a bird, she drew herself up into the air, her wings flashing light, now gleaming, now appearing to vanish as the light reflected one way and another.
    "Stop!" Eddie cried again. "Please! Oh, God, stop! Come back!"
    She rose higher, and looked down at him with her golden eyes. Suddenly the air seemed to tremble with sound, trills and arpeggios and flutings. Her mouth did not open as the sounds increased until Eddie fell to his knees and clapped his hands over his ears moaning. When he looked again, she was still rising, shining, invisible, shining again. Then she was gone.
    Eddie pitched forward into the thick layer of fir needles and forest humus and lay still.
    ....
    He felt a tugging on his arm, and heard Mary Beth's furious curses, but as if from a great distance. He moaned and tried to go to sleep again. She would not let him.
    "You goddamn bastard! You filthy son of a bitch! You let it go! Didn't you? You turned it loose!"
    He tried to push her hands away, moaning.
    "You scum! Get up! You hear me? Get up! Don't think for a minute, buster, that I'll let you die out here! That's too good for you, you lousy tub of lard. Get up!"
    Against his will he was crawling, then stumbling, leaning on her, being steadied by her. She kept cursing all the way back inside the cabin, until he was on the couch, and she stood over him, arms akimbo, glaring at him.
    "Why? Just tell me why? For God's sake, Eddie, why?" Then she screamed at him, "Don't you dare pass out on me again. Open those damn eyes and keep them open!"
    She savaged him and nagged him, made him drink whiskey that she had brought along, then made him drink coffee. She got him to his feet and made him walk around the cabin a little, let him sit down again, drink again. She did not let him go to sleep, or even lie down, and the night passed.
    A fine rain had started to fall by dawn. Eddie felt as if he had been away a long time, to a very distant place that had left few memories. He listened to the soft rain and at first thought he was in his own small house, but then he realized he was in a strange cabin, and that Mary Beth was there, asleep in a chair. He regarded her curiously and shook his head, trying to clear it. His movement brought her sharply awake.
    "Eddie, are you awake?"
    "I think so. Where is this place?"
    "Don't you remember?"
    He started to say no, checked himself, and suddenly he was remembering. He stood up and looked about almost wildly.
    "It's gone, Eddie. It went away and left you to die. You would have died out there if I hadn't come, Eddie. Do you understand what I'm saying? You would have died."
    He sat down again and lowered his head into his hands. He knew she was telling the truth.
    "It's going to be light soon," she said. "I'll make us something to eat, and then we'll go back to town. I'll drive you. We'll come back in a day or so to pick up your car." She stood up and groaned. "My