“An artist, huh?” Karl says in his gruff voice. “Not a prostitute.”
“That’s my life goal,” affirms Annie, who will pick up about any man available in the stripper club. Actor/writer/inventor Tom Casey was just one in a long line of suitors. Norris JERRY Harry too. To be fair to Karl, she has a particular thing for thick, strong arms that will completely envelop her during an embrace. She turns to face her present lover’s large, bald head.
“Because my guess is that you’d make one hell of a whore.”
She smacks his cheek, but not hard. Because Annie agrees with Karl about that. She *is* a slut, and good at it. If it wasn’t for that New Island book by that Moth fellow, it still could represent a natural endpoint. But she saw the drawings, read the detailed text. Artist Point, a colony of realistic and abstract creators alike. She wanted to venture into the latter but so far had stuck to the former. And now she had a strong desire to paint *Karl*. In the nude, of course. That’s another add-it-to-the-list one, because she’d already done Casey, done Harry. 15 paintings accomplished just this past year (!). The ability was growing. And she read about a nudist beach at something called The Hook where she could hang out and pick up men. Check out the goods beforehand. Not in a pervy way, but in an *artistic* way. Okay, 1/2 and 1/2, she admits to herself while thinking about their large, thick arms, etc.
“Sisters just up and left you, huh?” stated Karl, getting serious for a change. He’d never had a family of his own. Just those crazy, fast food neighbors of his who were the focus of the… his reality. But since he was 3d again, perhaps he’d eventually have to go back to the old house, the old life. His thick coat of fur had disappeared upon, er, awakening outside in the Bluebird Cuddle Van. And how did he get here in the first place? That remains a mystery to him. Must have been some hell of a party.
“Yup,” answers Annie. “But I have only one *real* sister,” she clarified. “Tonya Two Egg; went with Harry to wherever this Mimosa is. She’s hell bent on finding JERRY, you know.”
“JERRY?”
“*Yes* Karl. I brought up JERRY two times before. You must have been staring at my legs.” She skillfully raises her skirt an inch or two while shifting her position in his arms. She’d learned that trick a long time ago.
“Oh,” utters Karl. He vaguely recalled something about that now. And, yeah, he’d been staring at her legs a lot. Here’s another one with a thing for thin, like Tom Casey. Speaking of which, they’d better get down to what he was here for. “Okay, babydoll. The night is growing, um, later. There won’t be any more stars in the sky than are in your eyes right now.” He’d learned that line a long time ago.
—–
First thing in the morning, they rezzed Annie’s small fishing boat at the nearby community center and headed south, intending to go through Horizons’ 4th and only hookless region (ironically enough) to reach the continent of Zindra. Karl had nothing to leave behind; he’d only been in Horizons-Pluto for a week. And Annie had already sold her land next to Mt. Tom, so hell bent was she upon this New Island.
Both sisters fixated on the same type of place. And there were more connections.
“New Island by boat, huh? We’ll see about that.”
Sunklands 