Provender Gleed by James Lovegrove

his bare arm.
    A needle winked, poised over his biceps.
    'Do it, for fuck's sake!'
    Provender felt the jab. A sting, then deeper, muscular pain.
    And suddenly brightness, a wash of crimson over the scene, followed immediately by a huge, hearty thump .
    Distant cheering.
    And further flashes of brightness followed, and a thunder peal of thumps . The tree trunks were lit up in a succession of colours. Is's face was lit up too. Provender watched her, even as his legs began to grow numb and crumple under him, even as the man braced him so that he remained upright. Is was growing further and further away, shrinking, and her face, as it receded and blurred, shifted through a palette of hues: sombre magenta, fierce scarlet, deep gold, shrewd green, cruel blue.
    More cheering. Whoops of firework joy.
    Coming from a far-off world.
    Somewhere in dreams.

9
     
    'Where is Provender?'
    This time Cynthia Gleed said the words less with a sigh, more with a frown.
    A fusillade of explosions erupted overhead, like dandelions made of fire, one overlaying another in rapid succession The partygoers oohed their appreciated. Faces were upturned, mouths agape. Fireworks made children of everyone.
    Cynthia, the only one not looking upward, studied the crowd by the flickering play of pyrotechnic light. No sign of her son in his sombre, somewhat sinister get-up. She could see Gentian, though, and Blaise, the latter with her arm around nephew Arthur (although the embrace, from certain angles, looked not unlike a headlock). Neither girl had found favour with Provender, and Cynthia, while disappointed, was also not surprised. In hindsight, Gentian was perhaps a little too winsome for him, and Blaise was definitely far too forward. Cynthia had had her hopes ... but she perceived now that her choices had not been right. Ah well. She was learning from her mistakes. Soon she would have narrowed down the perfect woman for Provender. She already had the next couple of candidates in mind, and she also had a network of friends, relatives and acquaintances quietly, discreetly looking on her behalf, rifling through their address books, winnowing out likely young ladies to submit for her consideration. In time, she would find the Girl, the One.
    There was a series of immense silver starbursts. Shrieking white dervishes whizzed off in all different directions.
    Cynthia saw her husband. She saw her daughters. There was Uncle Fortune, sweaty and satanic. There was Great, craning his bony neck, peering up fiercely at the display.
    All her Family. All her family .
    Except Provender.
    The likeliest explanation for his absence was that he had returned to the house; he was back in his suite, probably bashing away again on his damn videotyper.
    Yet Provender loved fireworks. It was highly unusual that he wasn't here watching them.
    On the ground, several dozen Roman candles ignited at once, and a host of golden sparks tumbled in a shimmering curtain.
    Deep within her Cynthia felt the first faint pangs of misgiving.
    She tried to ignore the feeling. She tried to convince herself she was being foolish.
    She didn't quite succeed.

 
     
    PART II
     

10
     
    Between them, Damien bearing most of the weight, they carried Provender's inert form to the car and bundled him into the boot.
    This, for Is, was the riskiest and most terrifying part of the plan. Security personnel were patrolling the grounds. There was no way of pretending there was anything innocent about two people lugging the sedated body of Provender Gleed to the catering-staff car park and depositing him in the back of one of the vehicles there. It was not possible, if caught red-handed, to claim this wasn't what it appeared to be. Up till then, everything could be explained away: she was just chatting with Provender, they were just getting on with each other, they were just going for a walk in the grounds to find a vantage point to watch the fireworks from. Now, from the moment Damien grabbed Provender and she