The Caveman's Valentine Read Online Free PDF Page A

But you already know his name.”
    “Stuyvesant?”
    “David Leppenraub.”
    “Who?”
    “You’re kidding. You don’t know who he is?”
    “Uh-uh.”
    “Photographer?
Trees of North America?
”
    “Wait a minute. Maybe I did see his name in the paper. Some controversy . . .”
    “Every paper in the fucking country. He did these pictures of trees, all kinds of trees, you know, in the city and gas stations and malls and like that, just these normal American scenes except there was always a little bit of violence in them, just a touch of blood or something. And in every one of these pictures there was also an angel, and this angel didn’t have no clothes or nothing, and this angel was beautiful. I bet he was. ’Cause this angel was Scotty.”
    “He was the model?”
    “Yeah. He was Leppenraub’s model. He was also Leppenraub’s slave. He took him in, put him up on his farm up in Dutchess County. He said he was some kind of precious flower. He said he was too good for that girlfriend of his. He gave him presents, and he made him a glamour boy. He made him the mascot for all his fancy parties. He gave him drugs and shit, all the shit that’ll fuck up a kid the fastest, I
know
about that shit. He turned him into a zombie. He just sucked all the blood out of him, so he could do whatever he wanted. He made him fuck all his friends. He made him do all sorts of shit.
    “Once Scotty tried to run away, and a couple of Leppenraub’s party-boy goons came after him, and they brought him back to the farm and taught him a little
self-discipline,
you know? I mean they beat the shit out of him. Taught him to do what he was told.
    “One time—listen to this, Rom—one time Leppenraub made Scotty invite his old girlfriend up to the farm. And she still loved him, she still didn’t understand what had happened to him. And they had lunch, the three of them, and she was looking at Scotty and she started to cry. And Leppenraub, he consoled her, oh yeah. He told her Scotty just wasn’t ready for serious
commitment,
but be
patient, child,
perhaps when he’s
ready
—and all the while Scotty was doing what he was told. You know what he was doing, Rom? He was jacking off Leppenraub under the table. Rom! The man made him do that. The man’s a fucking monster.”
    “Jesus.”
    “He’s the most sadistic bastard that ever walked the face of the earth. You see what he did to Scotty? You see the scars?”
    “He was dressed when I saw him, Matthew.”
    “You see the brand, Rom? He
branded
him—fucking heart tattoo on his butt.
Yours forever.
Oh Jesus.”

13
    T here was something outside. Matthew talked on, and Romulus shut his eyes, and he felt it, felt
them,
gathering out there. Something colder than the cold. Not wolves. Much fiercer than wolves.
Y-rays.
Sent down from Stuyvesant’s tower. Dense miasma of Y-rays, gathering on the other side of the rude curtains, settling in around the entrance to the cave. Eyelessly watching and listening in on Matthew’s grief, listening to every word.

14
    M atthew said, “Then he got crow’s-feet around his eyes and sores on his skin, and he started to look sick. And that’s how Leppenraub knew he had it. How he knew he’d given Scotty the virus. So—
so long,
fucker. Get the fuck out of here, fucker.”
    “He just kicked him out?”
    “Just like that, yeah. He didn’t have no use for him no more. Got hisself another model. Go die now, Scotty. Go off somewhere and die.
    “Leppenraub though, he was real sick himself. He went in the hospital after he kicked Scotty out, and he was supposed to die.
    “So they had this big party for him just before he went in, so everybody could say good-bye to him. And they gave a lot of speeches and everybody said how
gentle
he was, all the big wheels, and they fed him a little cake. If I’d been there I’d have fed him dogshit till he choked. But I didn’t even know who he was then.
    “But anyway, the thing is, Leppenraub
didn’t die.
He’s