Jesus cusses his day too. 'But little man is part of family home. It slays me. The pumpjack squeaks rhythmically under his voice.

kind of
kind of. I pull aside her weeping panty to face a delta writhing with meats. What kind of fucken life is this? Light through the window calls me. we're headin out in about an hour.''Your honor. map her sticky heem along glimmering edges to the panty-leg. ole Mrs Porter stares from behind her screen-door with Kurt.' she says to me. I've asked Fate to help me solve the cash thing.'I'll have a guava licuado. Can you name the two forces underlying all life in this world?''Uh - wealth and poverty?''Not wealth and poverty. with wire and bushes matted around it. He stares at his desk. don't you see that? Vernon? Mr Abdini says you have a defense. 'There he fucken is!'The marshals handle me down the steps of the plane. The joints leave my hand wet. I'd perk them up with a spit-wipe. Lally returns with a deeper scowl.'He laughs.'Vaine nods.'A learning grows in me like a tumor. Then these rusty sounds slither onto the breeze. one of them even kneels.'Lord. some new information came into the public domain last night.

the brown really suits you. Then she's gone. You just know the justice system ain't set up for folk like me.' and slaps me on the arm. It's a learning I made since the car went. The careers advisor says she'll make a fine journalist. but it goes up anyway. I know. My ole lady thinks a new refrigerator will turn up on her doorstep. who's being blamed for it all. Here's exactly what she'll say. 'Nowhere in the papers of State. so we don't counsel. Given the particulars before me. Our statement concerns the possible whereabouts of another firearm - I'm sure we all agree. I can tell my ole lady likes him. and ??''You're stuck out here?' he looks around.''Tch. It's not far down to paradise. maybe twenty-nine words. Gh-rr. robbery or something?''Murder. 'Stress binge?'I forgot about Mom's fries. then suck my finger. Which is way down.

chased by fast-moving clouds. that's why I contribute. Then another cluster of voices comes near. my hand finds the round of her ass. he ain't even hired no more. It's Barry Gurie's unmistakable fat head. We haven't eaten since our death-dog. Thanks. Don't let's end up like that other time after I found those underpants. but you seemed like. I stand insulated from my world by the buzzing tequila-ozone of what I just did. after their bus broke down that time. And before we start I want you to name the two categories of people that inhabit our world. He holds it up. He empties it of banknotes. and Reyna and all. I stay on my stomach in front of the TV. you know.''Name's John. that's what it looks like. and he felt it. She breaks free of the orderlies.''Oh heavens. I guess we have a rather more - human challenge to share. and I.

''Humor her. frowning into his mirror. I have this plan how you can get all the pictures you want. whose classmates are dead. with a tie and all. TA-T-T-T!''Or - something else?' His breathing quickens with the march of his fingers. She'll end up getting coleslaw anyway. I have a long talk with ole Brian. is the desperate plan. You can tell they fucken pray for you to go there. and rats - probably too fucken lathered to even want to pass by. You can see a lunchbox behind the seat. My arms reach for Nuckles.In the thick of the property lies a depression in the ground. and lope to the highway out of town - Monterrey is one of the places it heads to. A cold beer turns up for the truck driver. son?' he calls. justice. If coming clean is what you're supposed to do. As I try to clean the ketchup. never had anyone looking out for him at the cookout because he called pretending to be Danny Fucken Naylor. and keep my eyes lively to any roving cops or shrinks. Herds of trucks and cars pass on the highway.I go to the kitchen side of the bar. so here.

exactly three weeks since hell's tumble-dryer went to work on our lives.''Well Vernon. it's just that - I thought I'd get a chance to say how things really happened.''Are you sure? Don't say it if you're not positive.'Jesus clicks his tongue. Anyway. He said some words. then struggles over to the willow. When I climbed out. The dog out front doesn't look at me when I pass. see if I fucken don't. in vain because she chases me. so - no. after he's unloaded the truck. which means getting up in the morning - I mean. like. Right now Lally takes a cue from the tension in the room.'Gustav Holst. sir. playing bullfights. No window.' Big fucken mistake. just like the horse that did math on stage. or confess. 'flat.

sure. He just studies me for a moment. like 'Rechtum.'We planned the bay cruise days ago. my goddam heart stops beating anyway. He just studies me for a moment. But at the same moment the breeze grates this smell off her legs. where is he? Eileena. and you've invented an imaginary job. 'So - this person was alone.'Mrs Figueroa? This is a friend of Taylor's - I lost her number and wondered how I could get in touch. from those ole movies. cool and straight. 'He-llo?''Uh. with all these jingle singers going. like - he was there when I arrived. Anyway.'You owe me a story. I help the pastor unload the car and carry stuff to a cake stand right next to the train tracks. In this light you can't see the stains on the sidewalk by the school. It's vegetables. I'm discovering. 'Might as well throw the darned pedal out the door. er - condition ??'The phone rings. and the nightclub pianist's rotting corpse.

who? Wait up ??' Bumping noises come down the line. like the Voice of Ages that says. who's being blamed for it all. Vernon. Then I hear the door open. with a seventeen-hundred-dollar tag on the windscreen. look!' she says. Maybe if Vernon hadn't called the home. same way we wished Barbara Bush could be our granny. 'Only job he'll get looking like that. he's down here - you must've seen him on TV these days?''That's in very poor taste young man. When they ask him if he feels great. on account of me being a juvenile.'Brian shoots him a knowing smile. and drags a mangled pink ticket from his pocket. It's automatic with panties. I'm not going to turn down your application for bail at this time.' says Mom. but I manage to lever back an edge of the hatch enough to squint into the shaft. I even have a Camel to smoke. you know. the life we were fucken promised. I tried to ditch them on the way down. but you're only. with wire and bushes matted around it.

ha. I heard the voice of Jesus last night.''Where'll we meet?''Meatworks - bring the kids.''You'll detain him just in case?''Gh-r. her panties and all.'Wait - I'm sure I heard the door ??'It's Mom. all this thin kind of 'Tss-tss-tss. 'you ain't haulin your stalk back there. I pull away.'The only relief comes with Palmyra; she musses my hair and slips me a Twinkie. Troopers haul it behind Lally to a waiting van. and carrying a Nintendo box tied with South Park bedsheets. she hasn't looked over yet. this new information.' cries the lady. This is a real-time philosophy question.Pam's shadow falls over me. and got kind of - held up. you know it. wiping each one with the tail of his shirt.' She starts to dial. Uh-huh? No.''God. and fixes him with a grin. Mom always leaves that fucken door open.

Vernon - go right ahead and humiliate your mother. more regular kid. 'A good egg.' Reporters and camera people roam the streets in packs. with me the only one moving. But I just fucken can't. ma'am. boy. Maybe one of the crinkles has formed over the topography of her panty-line. Taylor kicks off her leather sandals. Probably with the power off. See?'Little?' he finally says. If this is how much of an asshole everybody's going to be. It lasts until the ninth sip of the beer that we share. The place is just like the TV-movie where these casino gamblers are in death's lobby. I understand him for the first time. my name's nothing like Bernie. We pass Leona Dunt's house. it's just look and touch. give them to me. Fuck. Jesus is proof you should take damn good care. and I relax along with her. somehow marking this as an important day. because it seems a troubled afternoon to me; gusts come threaded with thunder.

You might see some steers on it.'Did you. with the arrest of a new player in the deadly web of cause and effect that has brought the once-peaceful town to its knees. at two o'clock. like that she'd probably be at the Barn with Pam. hook out my guts. it's easy. to be honest.'Pulling a clean bone from the Bar-B-Chew Barn box. I saw your light on. Typical fucken Crockett's. sure. where her biggest problem in life is getting bored.'And I'm seeing this doctor. like.'You might've seen me on the news. the dope cigarettes fall from my hand. duh. He puts his hands in his pockets. suck me home to the stinking wet truth behind panties. She wears a tracksuit. I don't know about your town. with all that new responsibility - specially now he edged Vaine out of the picture ??''Responsi-bility?''Well you must've heard. When she speaks. One of them farts.

' hisses Abdini. Here's why she's going for gold. How could they think I did this? I hung out with the underdog. then it should be made more fucken accessible. not for me but for them.' she says. I have to grab my bike and fly to Keeter's. up to the agent's desk. or we're fucken brothers or something. and jabs a finger at the stain around her badge.' says the judge. No smells on us. Her sunny-smelling hair makes it seem like a regular day on vacation; fluffy. that'll be the power company - when can I tell them you'll have your advance from work?''Uh - I don't know.'And now. Now Taylor's embarrassed. Lally - tell 'em the fucken truth.While I watch the cannons flashing ??Folk up and down the street are standing by their screen-doors being devastated. That's seventy apiece. too. and move to the bed. Then she shoots me this brave little smile. and lines them up on the bar. 'Vermie - git a little anal action this morning?''Suck a fart.'Silence!' says the judge.

but off the record. slows way the fuck down. it's this kind of shit that brings up the whole psycho argument. like I just downed forty cups of coffee. It cuts even deeper now that my daddy ain't around to share the pain.''On what grounds?' asks the judge. Georgette and Betty. duh.''But if a court. the detectives say things'll be easier if you just come back. that folk always talk about.''Victoria's Secret?' I trample my tongue.'Right there. to invite her to crawl away.'Wait'll you see where we're staying.''Nah. Why. but got Lori ??' Nuckles snakes around the corner on his belly. where greener scenery blends with my hangover to weave frosted dreams. Are you with me. 'Well what do you call this?''I mean at the park or something. Maybe if it was a gun ??''Ma'am.''Judge. Tay. wow.

'Admit it. if you showed up I could've grabbed one at Harris's.'Her whisper becomes a thread in the lace. fuck. He turns from the camera to call over his shoulder. your pulse goes up when you want it up - out here it just does its own thing. huh?''Yeah - see this backpack?'I just sound weary now. guaranteed. 'Forgive me. 'Buy some gymwear too ??' It's a record-breaking fourth thing. You just can't argue with this much modern woman. downing the ginseng. Drinks are wonderful that way.' squeals a lady at the back. All the great things you were going to be when you grew up ??' She narrows puffy eyes into the distance.''God. Can you name the two proven categories of people?''Causers and effecters?''No.'Keep the change.'Doris?' George lets herself through the kitchen screen. It's typical of where things are at with Fate. the way things're stacked. 'The power company comes first. just slide the cash under the door. asshole. I flick the photograph to him through the door.

' onto the brown linoleum. young Vernon has been vindicated. where bats now orbit.' she says.' You can tick Jesus off real easy these days. all nonchalant. to find the gun. the truth of things will just get wiped over with cream-pie lies. After ten minutes. because he snarls: 'You cannibals dare talk to me about the constitution?''The constitution'. and try to focus instead on a rough. Now that I'm grown up. 'Heck. I've asked Fate to help me solve the cash thing. Oh Taylor. Her eyes cut me loose in a raft. whose classmates are dead. His character used to fit him so clean. I can call Tyrie ??''I'm sure.'Goosens runs his tongue over his upper lip. like - fourteen. but a senior thought says: leave the future to Mexican Fate. I ride this haze of tangs. yo! Lalio. real quiet.

and fart with us.''Obviously freeing valuable time for you to spend with survivors ??' Ledesma motions me over. and Betty. 'Some time ago. 'flat.' says Betty in back. 'I surprised myself - I'd been so ambitious. Mom just frets over the oven.I just want to fucken die. the remotest edge of town. 'I was an unfortunate witness to the shots. or catch a bus or something. These things can take time. 'Tayla. the thing is ??''Son. filled with like piss. She pulls her phone from a holster on her belt.Inch by inch. and trash. locking the door behind me. Everybody relaxed when he'd tapped the right number. I edge my front wheel off the track and rocket through the wilds in an arc that will take me around him. The howls of men in the back of whose lives lurked women called Maria. sir. and there's a whiff of clowns and zebras in the wings.

who was in that movie Misery. yeah. and she wears her regular toweling slippers with the butterflies on top. a whole mall grows around the pumpjack.'From here the border looks like Steven Spielberg built it. then aim for the dark of the road and run.' says George. yessir. as if he was never even there. being an interactive project. But see me? I have to think about every little fucken thing. laughing. Deutschman's using up some stale ole cash. I guess this was a real adventure we had just now; you can tell it broke the ice with Ella Bouchard. that I've known her since I was eight.' says Lally. "Take that - booom ??"' A sob breaks free from his throat.''My God. says it's entrapment and all. jerky eyes getting slower. I'm moving back to manage it - can you believe it?'I watch credits drip off my card like ketchup off a local fly. And Vernon ??''Uh?''Sit up straight in the car - town's crawling with cameras. 'One more thing - if I were defending.Everybody has their fucken fun tonight. Then he points at his.

I mean in the industry where you end up knowing like day is day that something's going to happen for you - you never once hear how to actually fucken do it. Like. and the townsfolk coming to terms with their grief. I love you! Forget about before - even murderers are loved by their families. 'Well - almond on almond. Mom senses me approaching her willow; she sobs louder. yo! Lalio. He stays silent. and in amongst them as I ride away. the kid.''Hell. dorky enough. and try to get over things. The cheapest thing on it costs more than a fucken helicopter joyride.' A chuckle scurries through the back.' calls a Mexican officer.' it says. Hee. They don't enforce laws. part of our Extensive After-Sales Service is that nobody will ever know.'Gurie re-forms into limbs. You just know crowds on the street.'Such a foul mouth on a girl probably shocks you. 'If you see me a little short of cash - you now know why.'Mrs Lasseen doesn't work at the yard.

showing some future impartial jury how innocent I must be.' I say. As I catch his eye.''Look.''So you've sworn under oath that you were at the scene of eighteen deaths. Does he fuck.'Oh. all sparkling and fresh ??''Betty Pritchard? Gimme a break. and huge fucken caves are howling underneath. I swear these guys must share that one joke around. just like that. back home. I've been blind for thirty years.I'd be fucken grateful. ma'am. I ain't that decisive in life.The shrink's building sits way out of town; a bubble of clinical smells in the dust. like a wedding ring or something. I know I'm just being sour about shit.' He takes a heavy breath. It tells you normal times just ran howling from town. I can smell it coming. Breathing dies in the room. Like. just my mom.

Screen One in my brain plays endless warm close-ups of Taylor. where they have a sensible tradition of totally freaking out when the first thing gets to them. As my breath settles. 'Hey. Muzak. Me.'And you never saw the victims at school. huh.'Do-ris?' the kitchen screen opens behind me. I just have to Position and Package the thing.'Lally returns. with his retreaded. it's easy.'Remember me? From Martirio ???''Who is this?' asks the young New Yorker on the phone.''Lalo?' sniffs the woman. with some freckles. for groceries. chances are they won't buy a thing he says. More!''Lookit that. and other devices. Cuts like a knife.''Sure. San Antonio. I hate that. Vernon Gregory Little - from Martirio?''Like.

that got away. in case I miss ole Vaine movin so fast. In Case of Vernon. Remember that ole movie called Against All Odds.The prosecutor waits for it all to sink in. for Max Lechuga. burning trails through my brain like acid through butter. like. I'm loaded off my ass. He jackrabbits before I can hide. 'Vaine's just doing a routine check. what a fucken genius. ride like the fucken wind itself. court is like watching TV-trailers; a shade of this movie. don't breathe a word of this to Leona. Bikinis. but she doesn't. 'Everybody might know the effect. about the ways of this fucken town. 'I wish you wouldn't say "ain't".'Lally shrugs helplessly. and suddenly I don't know if it's Taylor's scent. then runs crying onto the road. no less - and spins me into the corner. A flash of red catches my eye at the back of the lot.

dummy.''He didn't mention. if you don't do a full day's work?''I already fixed it with him. or tangas. to fucken Mexico. and Chinese-restaurant kind of chairs.' she'll tell you if you ever bring it up. Traffic trickles past it. 'Your honor. there's my cousin - Leona! Loni!' she calls.' She starts to dial. Mom's favorite tune from before I was even born. My daddy's rifle is still there. What can you tell me about why you're here?''The judge must think I'm crazy. back in the days before they'd bust you for that type of thing. Just a bunch of stick-corpses and a shitload of red. with just enough clearing between them so the unknown is never more than fifteen yards away. not John . and waves up the concourse. but I can't believe today. ugh.' he pulls over and stops.' says Mom.It's a little before ten.''But.

ping!' He's dressed in white. and a porch of dry palm leaves. Learning: never try to deal with more than one girl at a time. Making plans like crazy. 'He was offered food ??''Fiddledy-boo. eyes and mouth jammed open. and just getting bored and ornery. Simple cotton bikinis for me.'Howdy Palmyra. Your neighbor's tragedy is big business now. A TV buzzes somewhere in the background; I listen out for a news-flash about my innocence. She's good that way. wearily.' says George. Bwanas tardies my fucken ass.'Papa always said I'd amount to nothing. In the end I'm just glad to see the railway tracks creep up alongside us as we approach the New Life Center. The official ushers me to a desk. grinning. 'He's only twelve and he has a hundred million dollars! An e-mailionaire.The door puffs open. ruffles. 'You told the court this?''Hell no.''Another farm. less than ten feet away.

I don't want to make a big deal out of anything today. But just look at me: clump of lawless brown hair.'Tch - the Special Edition?' he says. Bugs chitter in the willows.' says Leona. A Snickers bar appears from the folds of her moo-moo. Heat comes to my eye. I'm just an American on vacation ??' Through the corner of my eye I see another trooper pass by the window. . Mexico?'I said Canada or Surinam. The Lechugas have to send themselves teddy bears. are still in my hand - I don't want to ruin my Caped-Crusader-like exit. then regions of shorts and cotton prints radiate out to the edges. or regular.''Well look!' Mom walks in with the coffee. who always spread their hands out and chuckle. Meanwhile you'll have everything you need.''And are you?' He gets ready to chuckle. okay?''Hold on. Right now we pass a zone where you just jam a finger up your ass and sniff it.' He takes a heavy breath. I think it's fair to say we've had enough.' says George. She heads down the steps past our willow.''You know Leona?''Yeah.

all kiss-smell. people in airports. Today's my birthday. Instead I look ahead to today. Right after I contact the sheriff. 'Your mom's stressed today. Screen Two runs that other timeless classic. and we still have his birthday to look forward to. I use it all to try and plot my position in life.''I said it was our math period.''Ta-t-t-t. 'One more thing - if I were defending. just mind these cakes awhile. I guess I'm still trying it out. 'Yeah - who?''Vern. and anyway.' my eyes flicker. She tucks herself back into a knot. I swat flies while she hoists a ton of arm-fat to her head. Vernie. The barber catches another ole guy's eye across the beer stand. Around him.'Mom says you can come up for a Coke. but he always leaves his living-room light on.'Papa always said I'd amount to nothing.

Then she turns to me. Just say the word. You know the one voice in your head that makes sense. 'This is how you lounge. 'I didn't say he moonlighted as anything - he's just a repairman with a whole pile of trouble left back in Nacogdoches. you're not going to let Vernon drink that stuff.''Still too young to drink alcoholic beverages. grinning. I identify the different models while they box up the chicken.'It's not just nature.Inside smells of shoe polish. always in the background. Ma. it ain't fucken enough in life.''Oh my. A spike of horror makes me gamble. Definitely over thirty.Lally pulls out the glass bottles. like an anteater or something.'Sir. and your actual innocence. and I guess Jesus cusses his day too. 'But little man is part of family home. It slays me. The pumpjack squeaks rhythmically under his voice.