a N.E.R.D's Release ~~ Read First ~~.txtA N.E.R.D's Release

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McBain, Ed [aka Evan Hunter] - [SS] Chalk [v1.0].docChalkBy Ed McBain [aka Evan Hunter]

Scanned & Proofed By MadMaxAU

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Her face was a piece of ugly pink chalk, and her eyes were two little brown mud puddles. Her eyes were mud puddles and they did not fit with the pink chalk. The chalk was ugly, and her eyes were mud puddles, and they made the chalk look uglier.Your eyes are mud puddles, I said, and she laughed.I didnt like her to laugh. I was serious. She shouldnt have laughed when I told her something serious like that.I hit the pink chalk with my fist but it didnt crumble. I wondered why it didnt crumble. I hit it again and water ran out of the mud puddles. I pushed my hand into one of the mud puddles and it turned all red, and it looked prettier with water coming out of it and red.I tore the beads from her neck and threw them at the chalk. I felt her nails dig into my skin and I didnt like that. I twisted her arms and she struggled and pushed, and her body felt nice and soft up tight against mine. I wanted to squeeze her and when I began squeezing her she screamed, and the noise reminded me of the Third Avenue El when it stops going, and the noise reminded me of babies crying at night when Im trying to sleep. So I hit her mouth to stop the noise but instead it got louder.I ripped her dress in the front and I swore at her and told her to stop the noise, but she wouldnt stop so I kicked her in the leg and she fell. She looked soft and white on the floor. All except her face. It was still pink chalk.Ugly pink chalk.I stepped on it with all my might and the mud puddles closed and red came from her nose.I stepped on her again and the pink chalk was getting red all over and it looked good and I kept stepping. And the red got thicker and redder, and then she started to twitch and jerk like as if she was sick and I bent down and asked, Are you sick, Jeannie?She didnt answer except like a moan, and then she made a noise that sounded like the Third Avenue El again, and I had to hit her again to make her stop.I kept punching her in the face and the noise stopped.It was very quiet.Her eyes werent mud puddles. Why did I think they were mud puddles? They were two shiny glass marbles and they were looking right at me, only they couldnt see me because they were glass and you cant see out of glass.The pink chalk was all red now except for white patches here and there. Her mouth was open but there was no noise.Then I heard the ticking.It was loud, like an axe splitting wood, and I was afraid it was going to wake her up and then she would make the noise all over again, and I would have to tell her to stop and hit her again. I did not want to hit her again because her eyes were only marbles and you cant see out of marbles, and her face was a pretty red and not made of chalk that would not crumble.So I stepped on the ticking. I stepped on it twice so that I could be sure. Then I took off her clothes and she looked all red and white and quiet when I put her on the bed. I closed the light and then I left her to sleep. I felt sorry for her.She couldnt see because her eyes were only marbles.* * * *

It was cold in the night. It shouldnt have been cold because the sky was an oil fire, all billowy and black. Why was it cold?I saw a man coming and I stopped him because I wanted to know why it was so cold when the sky was burning up. He talked funny and he couldnt walk straight, and he said it was warm and I was crazy if I thought it was cold. I asked him if he was warm.He said, I am warm, and dont bother me because I feel wonderful and I dont want to lose this feeling.I hit him and I took his coat because he was warm and he didnt need it if he was warm.I ran fast down the street, and then I knew he was right. It was warm and I didnt need his coat so I went back to take it to him because he might be cold now. He wasnt there so I put the coat on the sidewalk in case he came back for it.Then I ran down the street because it was nice and warm and it felt like springtime, and I wanted to run and leap. I got tired and I began to breathe hard so I sat down on the sidewalk. Then I was tired of sitting and I did not want to run anymore so I began looking at the windows but they were all dark. I did not like them to be dark because I liked to look at the things in the windows and if they were dark I couldnt see them.Poor Jeannie. Her eyes were marbles and she could not see the things in the store windows. Why did God make my eyes out of white jelly and Jeannies out of glass? I wondered how she knew me if she couldnt see me.It was getting cold again and I swore at the man who had talked funny and couldnt walk straight. He had lied to me and made me feel warm when it was really cold all along. I lifted my hand up to the light in the street because it was yellow and warm, but I couldnt reach it and I was still cold.Then the wet fell out of the sky and I began to run so it wouldnt touch me. But it was all around me and the more I ran the more it fell. And the noise in the sky was like a dog growling under his teeth, and the lights that flashed were a pale, scary blue. I ran and ran and I was getting tired of running and the wet was making me wet, and the damp was creeping into my head and the dark was behind it the way the dark always was.The damp pressed on the inside and it pushed outwards, and then the dark creeped up and I screamed, and it sounded like the Third Avenue El when it stops going, and I screamed again and it sounded like babies crying, and I punched myself in the face so I would stop the way Jeannie had. But I screamed again and the damp was all in and over my head. The dark was waiting, too.I screamed because I didnt want the dark to come in, but I could see it was getting closer and I knew the way the damp always felt just before the dark came in. I hit my face again but the damp was heavy now and it was dripping inside my head and I knew the dark was coming and I ran away from it.But it was there, and first it was grey like the ocean and then it got deeper like a dense fog and it turned black and blacker, and the dark came and I knew I was falling, and I couldnt stop because Jeannies eyes were only marbles.* * * *

I am lying on a sidewalk in a strange street.The sun is just rising and the bustle of the day has not yet begun. There is a severe pain in my head. I know I havent been drinking, yet where did this terrible pain come from?I rise and brush off my clothes.It is then that I notice the blood on my hands and on my shoes. Blood?Have I been fighting? No, no, I dont remember any fighting. I rememberI remembercalling on Jeannie.She did not feel like going out, so we decided to sit at home and talk. She made coffee, and we were sitting and drinking and talking.How do I come to be in this strange street? With blood on my body?I begin to walk.There are store windows with various forms of merchandise in them. There is a mans overcoat lying in the street, a ragged overcoat lying in a heap. I pass it rapidly.It is starting to drizzle now. I walk faster. I must see Jeannie. Perhaps she can clear this up for me.Anyway, the drizzle is turning into a heavy rain.And I have never liked the darkness or dampness that come with a storm.* * * *