Big Machine (51 page)
I’ve got these words written on legal pads that we keep in a small yellow suitcase under the bed. It’s about as bright as an egg yolk. We bought it from a Salvation Army branch in Philadelphia. It’s a little heavy by now, too cumbersome for me to get at with my right hand alone. So Adele creeps over when I ask and pulls it out. She opens the top. The wind outside turned into a storm long ago.
It’s battering our windows. Even the roof is shaking.
I’m going to set this pad down soon. Put it with the others hidden safe under the bed.
The ruckus outside sounds like rough company. A battle on the rise.
Adele is humming a tune for courage, and before I get up, I’m going to take a sip of something strong. I guess we could lock ourselves in the bathroom and hide. Let someone else face the fight. But we’re not going to do that.
Caitlin Grace McDonnell, my dear friend, who survived some serious trials. You deserve every good thing in your life. And more.
Chris Jackson, ass kicker. You wouldn’t let me get away with anything in this book! And that’s why you’re a truly great editor. And friend.
Mya Spalter, thanks for every assistance and great idea. I appreciate it.
Jamie Keenan and Christopher Zucker, for the design of this beautiful book.
Bara MacNeill, for such thorough and invaluable copyediting.
To Mills College, Elmaz Abinader and Cornelia Nixon in particular, for bringing me out to Oakland, one of the best experiences of my life.
Thank you to the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation for their generous support.
And thank you to the United States Artists Foundation for believing that artists matter.
Emily Raboteau, my confidante, my peer, my team. I love you.
Jennie Smith, Mat Johnson, and Gloria Loomis for reading (and rereading!) this book over the years. I can’t explain how valuable you’ve been to me.
Albert Lucientes, for the honesty and the insights. Thank you, my friend.
Thanks Charlie Raboteau for the term “spiritual X-Men”!
I grew up reading horror. This novel was influenced greatly by the writers I loved, and still love, in the field: Shirley Jackson, T.E.D. Klein, Stephen King, and my man Ambrose Bierce.
Being a weird black kid can turn you a little crazy unless you have some role models. So I’d like to thank the following for setting great examples. The Black Eccentrics (partial list): Bad Brains, Gayl Jones, Ishmael Reed, Armond White, Michelle Wallace, David Keith, Fishbone, Phil Lynott, Charles Burnett, Octavia Butler, Kim Thayil, Thomas Paine, and Darth Vader.
Last, I’d like to thank the folks who rescued me more than ten years ago now. The real-world basis for the Washburn Library. You invited me out and cleaned me up. I was a mess but you had faith. I’m still grateful. Your secret is safe with me.
V
ICTOR
L
A
V
ALLE
is the author of
Slapboxing with Jesus
and
The Ecstatic
, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. His awards include a Whiting Writers’ Award, a United States Artists Ford Fellowship, and the key to Southeast Queens.
Big Machine
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by Victor LaValle
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
LaValle, Victor
Big machine: a novel / Victor LaValle.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-385-53041-5
1. Ex-drug addicts—Fiction. 2. Parapsychologists—Fiction. 3. Belief and doubt—
Fiction. 4. Psychological fiction. I. Title.
PS3562.A8458B54 2009 813′.54—dc22 2009000381
v3.0