We Ate the Road Like Vultures Read Online Free PDF Page B

travel the world telling the truth: that we save ourselves by escaping evil and doing good wherever we go.
    Carousel asked kindly if anyone had ever given Adolf a Bible, or told him that perhaps this was not the complete story of Jesus Christ.
    Adolf nodded knowingly. ‘Oh, people are always trying to put me right, but I have heard the truth now. I know how the world has tried to change the story of Christ. My friends let mein on the secrets and the truth, and I will not be easily fooled.’
    The last part of that statement left us all speechless and, in the face of such guileless fucking gullibility, we all just sighed and smiled.
    â€˜Good for you, boy.’ Carousel finally coughed. ‘You have to keep believing what you believe, and there ain’t nothing like good travellin’.’
    Chicco was still silent, gently shaking his head from side to side.
    Carousel’s chair hoisted him to his feet and he stretched wearily. ‘I think that story has earned you a bed for the night, young man. Come with me. And you, Lulubelle.’
    â€˜It’s Lulu.’
    â€˜It’s whatever I fucking want—because it’s my bed.’ He didn’t smile out loud but I heard it in his voice so I followed him down the hall. He took us to a huge room, one that clearly hadn’t rated a makeover, one that had a four-poster bed about the size of a regular Mexican house. It was made with the dustiest sheets I had seen outside of a Dickens adaptation.
    â€˜Here you go then.’ And he had his revenge on the two young’uns who had imposed so mightily on his hermitage.
    â€˜One bed?’ I asked, horror and embarrassment rising up with the beans. I couldn’t. Not with him.
    â€˜Yep. It’s all we got. And don’t worry. It’s big enough, you won’t even see each other once the lights are out. Oh, except the lights don’t work so you’ll have to use a couple of those candles.’
    Adolf was unfazed. ‘Thank you so much, Mr Carousel. You have been extremely hospitable. Lucy and I will be okay here.’ He turned to me and I stumbled into the wall. Pulling a silver cigarette lighter from his pocket, he reached out to light the candles.
    â€˜It’s Lulu,’ I said and mouthed ‘Fuck you’ at Carousel who laughed out loud that time and walked arthritically back down the hall.
    I watched him until he was out of sight, nervous to face my first night in bed with a boy. I clenched my fists, angry at my own stupidity. Well, if I could tramp across the world and sleep on the side of the road in this criminal country,I could sleep in a big soft bed with a German supermodel. I would be philosophic about it. I would be professional. We were two travellers, two searchers—we were far beyond worrying about sexual tension. I turned around to see him pull off his last piece of clothing. He looked at me, completely naked, and smiled.
    â€˜Goodnight, Lulu.’ He climbed under his side of the covers and turned to the wall.
    I gagged, said something about needing the toilet and rushed out of the room. Fucking hell. I did actually need to go by the time I reached the toilet, and as I wandered tentatively back towards my boudoir I heard Carousel and Chicco still talking in their lounge. Chicco was speaking and I leaned in closer.
    â€˜Well, I thought we had met the strangest people we would ever meet years ago, but by fuck, those two are the weirdest fuckers I have seen yet.’
    I was horrified. He thought I was as mad as Adolf. The thought of it clung to my skin and I crept fully clothed into the smallest part of the largest bed in Mexico.

4
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    Age is just a change of outfit.
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    I WOKE UP FUCKING EARLY AND THE SUN WAS over the sand and the nude boy was gone. Thank God for that mercy. If I had to see his muscled stomach and, well, the rest of him before I faced the day, I might actually retire from the world the same way the old guys