Phoenyx: Flesh & Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

to you by next week,” and as I said that, I felt a flash of déjà vu: I was sure I’d told her that sometime before.
    I’d only been in the apartment a few weeks and was still getting used to the shock of living alone, with no dinner ready for me every night, and no breakfast things all laid out in the morning. In fact, I hadn’t been eating well at all, picking up what I could find in the ‘reduced’ section of the local store. My mother would, of course, have screamed at me for it – neglecting myself, not planning anything, being scatterbrained and forgetful – all the things she used to scream at me for before. Well, just for once it felt good being able to do them all without the threat of an argument, although I did hope that I could soon become a little more self-reliant.
    “You will? You said that last week.”
    Had it really been a whole week? Well, at least I’d managed to do something in that time.
    “Oh, but I mean it this time, Mrs. Groenenberg. I promise. I do have a job now, and I’ll be getting paid soon.”
    “A paying job. Wonderful.” She chewed on the word, nodding to herself, as if I had fed her the most ludicrously unpalatable tale ever. “Good, good. I’m glad. Shop assistant? Nice bank job?”
    What ridiculous notions. The very things I’d always scorned at school when the careers advisor came around – at different times I’d wanted to be a gymnast, an equestrienne, a dancer, a singer – like Suzi, of course – but never anything as boring as a bank clerk. I had to tell her just how wrong she was.
    “No, no. Far more exciting. I work in an adult bar,” I blurted out, not quite meaning it to come out that way. “Er, I mean—”
    “Oh, do you. Meaning, there are bars for children out there, hm?”
    “No. There’s no funny business. It’ll be very good money. I promise you. One more week. In fact – I’ll get it to you as quickly as I can. Maybe even tomorrow.”
    “Not on a Sunday, girl,” she hissed, looking at me sideways as though I was inviting her into a black magic ritual. “I’ll be in church. Leave it ‘til the week.”
    “I will,” I said, nodding furiously. It was good to know that there was something the old girl cared about more than money. In that case I might be able to find some food tomorrow for Boris and me before she took the rest of it away from me. She waved me goodbye with a flick of her wrist and turned away, shaking her old-fashioned grandmother braids as she went. Sunday girl – the words returned to me and sparked a thought in my mind.
    I rushed through to the bedroom and found my old Blondie cassette. Skipped forward to that song, then faced the mirror again. I was going to go through the routine once more – this time, with Olivia. I would use my imagination to extend our little rehearsal back in the WOW clothes store.
    I must have played that song over and over, until I was sure that the tape would snap and the cassette would break. I finally stopped, exhausted, when I heard the kids who lived in the apartment upstairs come home. I took Boris to bed with me and fell asleep, wrapped around him like a lover, exhausted and satisfied with thoughts of Olivia dancing through my head and Boris’ soft fur warming my cheek.
    I woke up with a start, wondering why it was so cold and dark. I grabbed at the bedside lamp and switched it on, then realized I’d fallen asleep naked on top of the bed, with the windows still wide open. The atmosphere of the city night drew over me like a damp heavy blanket, reminding me that I had important things to do.
    “Oh my God,” I gasped aloud, and stared at the alarm clock, terrified as to what it might show me. My bleary eyes focused on the hands and the numbers with some difficulty. It was half-past eight. I was supposed to be at the Klub by nine, in time for the start of the show at ten.
    “I’m going to be so late,” I screamed out in despair. “ Why didn’t I set the stupid alarm?”
    Boris looked