（外文电子版资料）Kim Newman - Castle In The Desert-Anno Dracula 1977.pdf

file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Kim%20Newman%20-%20Castle%20In%20The%20Desert-Anno%20Dracula%201977.txt Castle in the Desert: Anno Dracula 1977 by Kim Newman The man who had married my wife cried when he told me how she died. Junior—Smith Ohlrig, Jr., of the oil and copper Ohlrigs—hadnt held on to Linda much longer than I had, but their marriage had gone one better than ours by producing a daughter. Whatever relation you are to a person who was once married to one of your parents, Racquel Loring Ohlrig was to me. In Southern California, its such a common family tie youd think thered be a neat little name for it, pre-father or potential-parent. The last time Id seen her was at the Poodle Springs bungalow her mother had given me in lieu of alimony. Thirteen or fourteen going on a hundred and eight, with a micro-halter top and frayed jean shorts, stretch of still-chubby tummy in between, honey-colored hair past the small of her back, an underlip that couldnt stop pouting without surgery, binary star sunglasses and a leather headband with Aztec symbols. She looked like a pre-schooler dressed up as a squaw for a costume party, but had the vocabulary of a sailor in Tijuana and the glittery eyes of a magpie with three convictions for aggravated burglary. Shed asked for money, to gas up her boyfriends sickle, and took my television (no great loss) while I was in the atrium telephoning her mother. In parting, she scrawled fuck you, piggy-dad in red lipstick on a Spanish mirror. Piggy-dad, that was me. She still had prep-school penmanship, with curly-tails on her ys and a star over the i. Last Id heard, the boyfriend was gone with the rest of the Wild Angels and Racquel was back with Linda, taking penicillin shots and going with someone in a rock band. Now things were serious. My little girl, Junior kept repeating, my little girl … He meant Racquel. They took her away from me, he said. The vipers. · · · · · All our lives, weve known abo