Egglike

Book excerpt: "I never fast before medical procedures-it gives me joy to confuse the doctors. I think they like it, too, gives them more of a challenge. Once, on the way to have my kidney removed, I stopped at an all-you-can-eat buffet for a large plate of beef kidneys with mushrooms and garlic. You should have seen the expression on the surgeon's face when he opened me up and had to spot which kidney was mine and which belonged to the beef. I couldn't see his expression though because I was under anesthesia." "Did you have dreams?" "As a child, yes, many times. Dreamed of cowboys, Indians, ghosts, flies in the soup . . ." "Me, I still dream, even now as an adult, even now as I sit here. But I always forget the dreams, so I can't be sure if I really had them or if they were just a dream. How's the duck?" "It's quite exquisite. Like a chicken mixed with a lake. Please, have some." The woman used her fork to take a tiny, almost invisible piece of duck from the man's plate. She drowned it in vinegar, blew on it for a long minute, then ate it while closing her eyes. Egglike is the first novel by musician and artist Adi Gelbart.