The Brothel Creeper: Stories of Sexual and Spiritual Tension (37 page)

Daniela smirked. “Where do you think?”

Ivan gazed her through his long lashes, nodded once, and she pushed him roughly into the opening. He slid down the incline. She followed, propelling herself with her hands, and soon caught him up. The oceans of a new reality awaited them, unknown continents ripe to be populated with sensual blooms aching with creative hunger. She said, “It’s a long way down. I wish we had music to make the descent enjoyable.”

Without speaking, Ivan groped for a hidden pocket on the inside of his jacket, extracted a long white flute.

“Where did you get that from?” she asked.

“I made it myself. From the right thighbone of my uncle. That’s what dead uncles are for, isn’t it? Try it out.”

The melody was already inside her head. She played it. They followed the notes down. Far behind them the atmosphere sizzled. But the currents of air that rose up the passage were like cool tongues. All the way down, they went, to establish her empire based on endless lust. To live not wisely but joyously amid the steaming cunt forests, to generate absurd myths together and brand new mysteries of eroticism and death.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rhys Hughes was born in 1966 and began writing from an early age. His first short story was published in 1991 and his first book, the now legendary
Worming the Harpy
, followed four years later. Since then he has published more than thirty books, his work has been translated into ten languages and he is currently one of the most prolific and successful authors in Wales. Mostly known for absurdist works, his range in fact encompasses styles as diverse as gothic, experimental, science fiction, magic realism, fantasy and realism. His main ambition is to complete a grand sequence of exactly one thousand linked short stories, a project he has been working on for more than two decades. Each story is a standalone piece as well as a cog in the grand machine. He is finally three-quarters of the way through this opus.

Check out his blog at:
http://rhysaurus.blogspot.com