Stacey Levine - Dra-

Gritting her teeth, bent on making the call this time without backing down, she pushed toward the main hallway and past a stair landing, startled to see a lone, thin boy lying face up who was clearly experiencing pleasure. Disturbed, she ran from the station, its domed ceiling and railed balconies behind her.

She pressed on, searching for a phone, quite far afield, she realized, and presently she slid into a series of hallways that worked to calm her, for cool air blew through them, along with the faint scent of solvent. The unmarked passageways were so deserted and bare that it was difficult to see distinctly or gauge distances; and she was mildly surprised to make out, at some point in front of her, a lanky, bony woman strolling barefoot with a quiet-looking man clinging to her arm. At once, Dra— headed toward them. The woman wore a shiny, rustling hostess gown and had an arm around the wiry man, who held a burning cigarette in his mouth. The man wore a paper robe, and as the woman rubbed his shoulder companionably, she laughed loudly, as if trying to dispel some disturbance clinging to them both.

Instantly Dra— followed them through the hall, lined along its ceiling with unending rows of black pipes which rumbled inside, expelling heat and cold. Moving closer, her eyes lingered on the couple and their unusually expressive faces, and also on the man’s brief wrapper, which, she noticed, scarcely covered his thighs. Below his collar there was a rectangular patch where a name might be stitched, though it was not his name on the patch but instead, it seemed, a number to call in case of an emergency. And she considered that he might be ill, though his hair was thick and his color high, perhaps excessively high. The man and woman began to rub and lick one another avidly, as if preparing to have an experience, and at this moment, trembling with jealousy and anger, she approached them, crying, “Stop it, stop!”

Looking up, they eyed her with calm and stupor, leaning back upon the wall as one. With a soft whine, Dra— stared, imagining that she might run to them wildly, all reason lost, embracing them both with a madness that would surpass their voracity for one another, so that they would smile at her with contented, approving joy. And with tears over all the time the three of them had lost, the man and woman would then propose the obvious: that Dra— join them in a permanent fashion so that from this evening forward, they all would be together, and Dra— would never return to her old way of life again.

But she could not run to the man and woman who stared blankly at her here in the bright hallway; they were strangers, after all. So instead she stared back at them steadily until they seemed to fade from her vision and likewise, they seemed not to see her anymore, resuming their kissing with vigor.

Presently the man turned away and began to roll a new cigarette, gumming it shut with his curling tongue. He leaned toward the woman, whispering something about the cafeteria, and eggs, and she laughed again, her face crumpling as if wounded by her laughter. She squeezed him around the middle, and he gave a mincing smile.

Watching these interactions, hearing the sound of their garments rustling together, Dra— experienced an onslaught of rage that filled her ears and caused her to clench her jaw and color, breathing hard. With surprise she noticed that the woman had seen this and now approached her, staring torpidly, saying, “What is it, baby?”

Face burning, she explained that she did not know what she wanted from life just now, not really, and though it would be nice to get to the bottom of things, that would probably not be possible, and so she must find her worksite, but at the moment everything was a bit too much. Though she wanted to find her Administrator very badly, she explained, what she wanted most of all was to sleep very soon, if sleep was even possible; and then she glared at the woman hostilely for having led her to speak in such a meandering manner.

The man giggled. Closing her eyes at the strong, sweet, fever-like scent emanating from the woman, Dra— suddenly turned to her, all irritation vanished, asking hopefully to know the woman’s full name, explaining that simply having this knowledge would give her the anchor she desperately needed, and that it was something she might repeat to herself later, since she had no idea when she would find herself separated from them and alone again.

At least in knowing the name, Dra— also reasoned aloud, she would have a good chance of being able to recall the woman clearly in the future. Then leaning over slightly, hand flush upon the wall, she waited, certain that a denial of the request would set her back considerably with primitive grief.

But there was no stumbling-block, for the woman laughed openly and warmly, folded her hands across her rumpled gown, then compliantly stated her name, which turned out to be fantastic, ending with a flourish of lisps and pebbly syllables that Dra— found unpronounceable yet satisfying all the same. Looking up, shaking in sheer relief at the woman’s immediate response, she gave forth a peal of laughter, and the man and woman laughed, too.

“Oh, we have such fun together, don’t we?” the woman said, taking all their hands together, and in the giddiness of the moment, Dra— mentioned flirtingly that once, long ago, she had labored as a maid.

The woman waved her off, saying, “Sugar, you’re over-tired, I can see that right away. Haven’t you had anything to eat?” and she turned to deliver a long open kiss to the man, who had been tapping gently at her sleeve and now whimpered so protractedly with the kiss that he seemed to be in pain.

The woman fastened her eyes on the little man. “I can’t stand the thought of him being away from my body, even for a moment, do you see what I mean? The real dream is to be attached to someone day and night, every moment of the year, without a second’s interruption” she paused—

“—and when the pain of suffocation sets in, why, that would be just as dramatic in its way, I suppose.” She kissed the man again, hard.

At the sticky sound of their kiss, Dra— began to sob with another burst of fury that jetted through her body; and, ears ringing, she faced the wall again, waving her hand to indicate they should turn away, though they were oblivious to this signal, and she sank to the floor, chest heaving. After some time she set her head against the wall, reaching out to touch the glimmering train of the woman’s gown, and begged in whispers to know if the two were married.

“Of course we’re married; what do you think this is?” the woman replied, smiling, looking sleepily down at Dra—, her warm, tanned arms opening. “Come here, baby, why do you hide in the wall?” She bent down, yawning widely, and the man put his face in her sleeve, rubbing it there.

“Attraction is just about the same thing as marriage, I think,” the woman went on, smiling, mouth large and elastic. “The moment you’re attracted to a person, isn’t it all written? People pair off, that’s all. Why, in the old days, we made love just as easily as we breathed, and soon enough we were set for life.” She pulled close, nesting her chin in Dra—’s shoulder for a moment, digging it in. “Nowadays, people are scared to lift their eyes up to one another, aren’t they?” She stepped back and laughed, shaking her head so her hair flew up. “Do you know what? I’m silly. I don’t think he and I are married after all. I can’t quite remember.” She turned back to the man and held his head between her palms while he gripped her arm tightly, struggling against the pressure, not seeming to hear her. “I always forget what is and what isn’t, don’t I?” the woman said. “Let’s see. I thought we were married because in my mind I have always been married and part of things, but the truth is I don’t quite know! Maybe we forgot to marry, or, maybe we couldn’t tell the difference between can and can’t?” She looked at the man, grinning. “Maybe we planned a wedding, but I think we forgot about it, didn’t we, Jann?” The man snickered.