@@@@@ "Wireman? All right?" My voice seemed to be
@@@@@
"Wireman? All right?" My voice seemed to be coming
from far away, through a steady low ringing noise
ix
Jack might have made it a little way beyond the
point where Ilse got sick; maybe notIt was hard
to tell once the growth got highThe road
narrowed to a stripe, its surface humped and
buckled by the roots running beneath itThe
foliage had interlaced above us, blotting out most
of the skyIt was like being in a living tunnel
936
The windows were rolled up, but even so, the car
was filling with a green and fecund jungle smell
Jack tested the old Mercedes's springs on a
particularly egregious pothole, thumped up over a
ridge in the pavement on the far side, then
slammed to a stop and put the transmission in PARK
"I'm sorry," he saidHis mouth was quivering and
his eyes were too big"I'm-"
I knew perfectly well what he was
Jack fumbled open the door, leaned out, and
vomitedI'd thought the smell of the jungle
(that's what it was once you were a mile past El
Palacio) was strong in the car, but what came
rolling in with the door open was ten times
headier, thick and green and viciously aliveYet
I did not hear a single bird calling in that mass
of junk foliageThe only sound was Jack losing
his breakfastAt last he collapsed back against
the seatHe thought I looked like a snowbird
again? That was sort of funny, because on that
early afternoon in mid-April, Jack Cantori was as
pale as March in MinnesotaInstead of twenty-one,
he looked a sickly forty-fiveIt must have been
937
the tuna salad, Ilse had said, but it hadn't been
the tunaSomething from the sea, all right, but
not the tuna
"I'm sorry," he said"I don't know what's wrong
with meThe smell, I guess - that rotten jungle
smell-" His chest hitched, he made a gurk sound
deep in his throat, and leaned out the door again
That time he missed his hold on the steering wheel,
and if I hadn't grabbed him by the collar and
yanked him back, he would have gone sprawling
face-first into his own whoop
He leaned back, eyes closed, face wet with sweat,
panting rapid