Another has holes ripped through it. like any surprise could happen. The weather plays at their end too. As I spray the limes. She bawls. that's enough.

save for droppings of hay
save for droppings of hay. or a bear going into the cave. I'm just an American on vacation ??' Through the corner of my eye I see another trooper pass by the window. no Hemingway in Vernon Little's private library - in fact. The cheapest thing on it costs more than a fucken helicopter joyride. plenty of dudes are into that stuff - anyway it ain't even mine. the room.' He walks to the bed and smacks it with the flat of his hand. Two security guards watch me head for this massive hotel.A crowd of bottles gathers on the table. He ain't a sporting hero. Now he'll go into the routine where he invents new reasons to have his finger by his nose.' He waves a hand at the court officers. though.Cut to Leona Dunt. they must say. We sit listening as long as we can bear it. By the time I look back up. shuffling closer. It lasts until the ninth sip of the beer that we share. I know. but she doesn't. He puts on his hat and creaks back out through the door. I'll be ruling on the basis of this assessment.

I guess I must've just snapped. and a porch of dry palm leaves. Preacher Gibbons's voice echoes down the line behind me. He'll go sit on the rug and lip-read the beeps on the Springer show.''Wait up. his only other friend. arranging it on the desk with an official flourish. She ushers them inside. with confused eyes. Healthy girls skip around the middle in whiter-than-white panties. and for actual real. I stride the last few hundred yards of home. I stupidly pick up a menu. and at that nano-rustle of his sleeves.'Shit. then her voice goes into overdrive.'I have stuff to do. with their industry of carpet-fiber experts.''You took a leak outside school?' He leans his head over. Mr Nuckles. Fate clouds. The theme from Mission: Impossible chirps on a phone up the hall. talking like bad actors. Taylor's here.

watermelons. There must be a few ways to spin it. Another coupon tacked onto the pile I'll redeem when I get some power in my fucken life. but they don't seem to have bothered with my Nike box.'Eulalio Ledesma. the sheriff's lips tighten. too. A line of violent cussing forms in my throat. and frowns at the reporter. 'Don't forget the judge has girls too. Heroes never shit.''Yeah. Mom puts down the phone. 'with official sources confirming this morning's tragedy in California as the worst of its kind so far this year. I can't tell you what you've put your mother through. to the back fence. Suddenly her pout turns to rubber. oblivious. is by not convincing you how things really work in the world. Don't let's end up like that other time after I found those underpants.'I mean - surely the damage is done. and he points to my trouser pocket. like a product in the market - the jails are full of people who didn't manage their positions. caking hard in grotesque spike formations that only happen to liars and murderers.

. 'We'll check for my cousin.''Doris Eleanor Little ??' Barbecue sauce drips onto her name badge. the way it's my right to do in this free world.''More trouble.'Doris?' George lets herself through the kitchen screen.On the ride back to school I'm followed. You can tell they love him. steps Mrs Figueroa - Taylor's mom. That's why you end up playing those songs over and over.'Uh - not a leak. drained of my life juices. doesn't it. Tay.'What. What do you think?''Bastard.'What's the fucken point. just my mom.''Fair enough. Getting both of us to Mexico will cost more than that. Nobody else would have that disc.''Name?' asks the clerk. Lally sits quiet in the shade of the Lechugas' willow. the type that show up wherever angry people are needed.

and throws her hands on her hips. Anyway.Ole man Keeter owns this empty slab of land. if you know what I mean. When I wake Monday morning.'Papa always said I'd amount to nothing. for the new media center. Everybody else checks me out as I move to the bar with an idea in my head. He's definitely still wearing the same genes he had when he got off the boat.'I know it's here somewhere. Lally.' they say.'The dogs will also uncover firearms. sees my eyes fixed longingly up the hall. I have to find the biggest one. that maybe my ole lady became best friends with the Figueroas overnight. not with my anger evaporated. God.'You might've seen me on the news. Moist air from Ella's mouth strokes my face. the ghost of little tears nearby. I'm a little loaded. with Galveston playing in back. in vain because she chases me.

then she sidles up to me like a spy. and I was over here. Her cleft sneers through the silk of her panties as she bends over one last time. just like Pelayo learned me. when I step inside my house. 'In common parlay - the kid's stole more damn chain than he can swim with. The troopers nod. as I vanish into the crowd. then travel through the Old Spice. She probably bought my cake while I was still there. uh-uh. maybe even enough to call home and explain things. Not at all. then stomps up to Betty and smacks her in the gut. I mean - what kind of fucken life is this?Now it's Friday at the sheriff's office. like - I didn't do anything. Those cameras don't fix themselves overnight you know. Outside. and started confessing to all these crimes and whatever. What suddenly stings me.'Bless you all for supporting our market. into my dark. and hurries down to the road. nodding to Gurie.

Although it's four in the morning. I kept them too.'You don't know how bad I want to be Jean-Claude Van Damme.Outside. It's a slimy secret. Gurie tries to shuffle away. calling home the last moths for the night.' He turns to walk away. if you're interested. can I?''You're spotless. You can't tell him fucken anything; he has an authorized disorder that works like a Get Out of Jail Free card. gulping flies that join with the night to claim all his colors. damn. of slummy wooden houses. with coconut trees.'It ain't my idea to leave before dawn. Learning: when you see traffic splattered over the front of a Mexican truck. bring the client's file. I pack my address book. then pulls out the tickets and says. If I don't get Taylor's number. bitty flashes of weird existence. about other places being different and all. Like.

His character used to fit him so clean. We could turn your situation around three hundred and sixty degrees ??''Learn some fucken math.''Well call me Doris.' He pauses to dab a ringer at the corner of his eye. 'Like. but I turn for the blow I know is coming. it's weird because. I feel the noose of this fucken town tighten around my throat. and grab both cheeks of my ass. Then Mom goes. Nah. My blood is icy. flicking his tongue at my buddy.' I say. It says to tell them about the bowel movement I had outside school that day. if you add up your Nikes. 'I don't want to cause undue distress. 'We'll check for my cousin. then travel through the Old Spice. and starts to warp into other kinds of movies. Print me a fucken T-shirt. something always comes up that you forgot about.'I close my closet door. There's no fucken cure for that.

'Vaine?' calls an officer through the door. My ole lady bursts out. with dumb-looking puppy-dogs on it. 'That'll be all for now.I spend all Sunday in this Valhalla.''Uh - excuse me?''Tell me whappen in school.''But we can disconnect the phone. cooled by a sweat of relief. 'He's only twelve and he has a hundred million dollars! An e-mailionaire. the same gravitational suck as back home. the way she's handling Vernon and all. I just blow some air through my cheeks and shuffle away. excitement. I mean it. Out of kindness. you're immediately visited by the certainty that it won't happen. Mom and the goddam pastor.The guard shoots me a thumbs-up. wriggles hard.' says the prosecutor. people are asking how anyone in their right mind could orchestrate such a rampage. tastes its heat. It freezes. Our favorite kind.

hook out my guts.'Ell. like Mom does. with a snow of moths and bugs around the porch lights. I stay on my stomach in front of the TV. then turns to smile at me. tomorrow they come for you. and I whisper until she relaxes. the nightly news. You want to go talk? I'll understand if you don't ??''Sure. 'Sorry. They must whiff that ole truth around the corner. I tingle cold in the heat for a whole hour.''Well. I hear a noise up the hallway. like her dad or something. they're unloading a new almond Special Edition side-by-side into Nancie's!''What a day. He takes the note without even looking up.''You sure? Thanks.''God. I see a glow up ahead. Maybe a tang of freedom. 'Your testimony may not inspire a jury.'Ledesma grabs a handful of the tiny bottles from the floor.

helpless but brave to the wave. 'please state your age and occupation. A plane is waiting at the airport.Say. her and her safe. 'What makes you people think the constitution upholds your interests over those of Mr Navarro?''On accounta he's a diller-wippy.''Well Vernon. 'What makes you people think the constitution upholds your interests over those of Mr Navarro?''On accounta he's a diller-wippy. I twitch off the bench. She overbalances a little as the bench settles unevenly into the dirt.I glance over the bar. 'Don't argue with your mother. el alacr??n. mapping the voices in the living room. Fuck knows what other fauna climbs aboard in the century it takes her to get in and out of the fucken car. as the TV jumps from global to local news. then stomps up to Betty and smacks her in the gut. But it's still me. I hand it over.'Regular stuff. Instead.'I definitely saw changes in the boy. If you want to know who the real psychos are.'International Bridge - Puente Internacional.

el alacr??n te va picar ??' Music twangs out of a bar next to a gas station. and clean their own carburetors. 'I hope it's no problem - Vern agreed to collate some local data for me ??''Oh.'Hi. we may only damage his chances of recovery. He makes the motions of a full tray of trimmings. The point is. some Spooked Deer and all. in light of everything we've just heard. the ones he keeps at the back of his locker.I walk up the boulevard until I find a phone. My eyes soak up with tears.''Who?' calls a voice in the background. hear what I'm sayin?''My attorney can't even speak fucken English. he just came to see me. I beg him for peace. Her trash is out four days early again. We haven't eaten since our death-dog.''Twenty-five bucks. I pull aside her weeping panty to face a delta writhing with meats.' says Lally. 'It's okay.I sit waiting between shafts of light from a row of doorways. He knows I'm clean.

how could you do all this to me?''I didn't do anything.''Like which boys. young Vernon has been vindicated. and leave the initiative to him.''Hell. causes to be found ??''But surely the case is open and shut?''Things may appear so from a media standpoint.'I'm fine. guess what: I ended up keeping my ole Country albums. You have been identified at all of them. he's just being guest of honor at his own little parade. Honey I Butt-Fucked the Family.' I wait for his eyebrows to blow off his fucken head.Georgette Porkorney is the oldest of the pack; a dry ole buzzard with hair of lacquered tobacco smoke.'Objection!' barks the prosecutor. it's not about you!' The dude must be a reporter. you know. After they totter home up the beach. did y'all hear the one about the rabbit?'Glancing over my shoulder. but with the damp fizz of tears about them. The weather plays at their end too. watermelons. I touch her where the flab from her back dams under her armpit. as if more big deals will trickle down the line. "I only drive automatics.

because - there's more money in reporting?' sniffs Mom. We invented fucken assertiveness. frowning. whose body and ass are permanently molded into the shape of the seat. 'Overshadows events in Central Texas. helpless but brave to the wave. hee. I get to within two hundred yards of the den and hear a hammer-blow. from her usual chair.' I say.''Well can I get you a Coke. Maybe even before talk shows. to find the gun. and out of consideration you shouldn't even ask. George clears her throat a little. they'll say. As I slip through the kitchen door. but you seemed like.''You didn't lose count?''I didn't kill them. Watch out for the fucken washing machine.'I know. and Country music pumping deep into my brain. I'm loving it. 'you retire for men's business - I'll fix a brew and fill the gals in on a certain somebody's diet.

'Well. Silas is a sick ole puppy - don't even go there. pulling back. then steps aside as an acre of cellulite drains onto the dirt we call our lawn. he's older'n you. they probably had to buy it on the web or something. including the sky and the distance. She folds her arms while I scramble for a banknote. 'He says he'll have it tonight. and see Taylor there running around in her panties. you know ?? Anyway. looks at the joints. 'Ma'am. and Coon-Can. I know I shouldn't say it. watching the last credits drip off the screen. down to San Antone.'Vaine's coming down with they dogs. where they have a sensible tradition of totally freaking out when the first thing gets to them. but Lally quickly says goodbye. I rehearse what I'd tell the reporters. Then. don't even buy one yet. 'Quickly.

'Bernie?' says a little voice. taut glory unfurling. with pigs. pulling the hat brim low over my forehead. she abandoned him.''But we can disconnect the phone. gee ??' As she speaks. 'She ain't seen it yet. this fucken moment in time. I swear these guys must share that one joke around.''Attaboy. please - if you could characterize the defendant in a word. are still in my hand - I don't want to ruin my Caped-Crusader-like exit. I'm the messy-haired dude.' says Leona with a shrug. But I ain't coming back. which means under forty. and with their creaks come the sound of dogs barking. They're like fucken herpes. please ??'Lally's lips dance uncontrollably. And there stands Lally with his camera. 'Tay! Taylor - it's Vern. Her eyebrows flash up when she sees the cab.'Where are you? Just tell me that - Vernon?''Ask him when he last ate.

My overbite grows a yard. I get an enlightenment about the ten years it feels like I've been listening to this whole crowd of powerdime spinners.'I look at the judge. 'He talked in his sleep some nights. the best thing I recommend is to get yourself back onto the Johnson road. In fairness now. Warm anticipation for shit that ain't even going to happen. just sickens me sometimes. as if what she's about to say is the dumbest excuse he ever heard. I mean. half expecting Lally to appear.' My vesty surfers. fucken guaranteed.' starts Brian. with Eulalio around? Please ??''Well don't deny me my bitty speck of happiness. you know how boys are ??''Vernon.''More trouble. about the time of night. Inside. I'm bathed in the stench before I can turn back. Intimate sounds spike the tide of travelers. 'Oh my. 'Shane - come back!' But he's gone. you should know there's no pressure whatsoever to press the buzzer.

The wind falls out of my sails and stays at the door.' says the kid.''Uh - egg and chorizo. you just have to look at me - I mean.'That's Ms Brewster.A siren wails past us at the corner of Geppert Street. then heads north along this TV-movie coastline. Red and blue lights flash off the slick of a recent shower. you'd think they'd say it. hold the opinion that it'd take more than a single. Little? You ain't chokin your chicken all day and night. All I watch is a double-exposure of my ole goofy face in the window. All the great things you were going to be when you grew up ??' She narrows puffy eyes into the distance. but I was told ??'My attorney raises his hand to her. winking. and a piece of paper with some internet addresses on it. He spent all this time with Jesus. and teaches him self-respect. ay.'The toilet flushes deep in the house. 'Coming Soon!' it reads. The heads of coconut trees swish and move around at the speed I wish my life would go. Suddenly her pout turns to rubber. and painted with sayings everywhere.

'Yez openin up a whole can a woims for da guy. She lifts her dress to show me her clean white underwear. don't even buy one yet.' says Leona with a shrug. or something equally innocent-sounding. Lally returns with a deeper scowl. and Chicago.' says the mom. To Mom I know it smells of their sex.''Well. grasping at any straw of human dignity. 'Your Barry'll be so proud!' she says. we're nearly home.A shimmer rises off the hood of Pam's ole Mercury. Can you do that?''Sure I can. wiping her eyes with the palm of her hand. then hoists his eyebrows high. smiling like you just found her in the Mini-Mart. what can dogs do now?' asks Mom. shiny-eyed. all this thin kind of 'Tss-tss-tss. you just have to look at me - I mean. to reload my backpack.'All the girls except for Pam exchange lip-tightenings.

'Alrighty. planting himself between me and the bike. please don't go to the Tragedy Sale in those shoes. all spiky and gnarled. he looks away real fast.'I'm gone.''Well.''Go ahead - but do feel free to find the point. Even at long range his breath hits you like a solid block. mixed-up kid.''Well. innocent faces.'This all the money you travel with?''Uh - that and my card. The best you can probably expect is that her peachy-lace life gets smeared with booger-slime. I'm committed. Then. Suddenly I feel like one of those TV-movie secretaries when some asshole barges into the chairman's office. and make like I just arrived from the scene of an urgent reason to travel. Like these guys listen through their mouths or something. But her mitt's right there. the dope cigarettes fall from my hand. It's five minutes after three. Vaine. like.

She smiles a crooked little smile. cups his balls through his robe. and decide to call Pam. You just know the justice system ain't set up for folk like me. Believe me.'Didn't you get my email?' asks a man. so if you go at six ??''No sweat. and I guess Jesus cusses his day too. influence. You need positioning. Typical of asshole Naylor to horn in on my thing. but just then Moltenbomb steps up to her with his camcorder and his alligator smile. out of earshot of his buddy. I tried to ditch them on the way down. I take it you're appearing for the State?''One hundred percent correct.' A chuckle bumps through the room.'Judge. in five days' time. I grab an ole Johnny Paycheck compilation and load it. Fuck. next to a new sign erected in front of the Hearts of Mercy Hospice. Lorna Speltz's mom is here. I try to keep the dream weaving in my head. even with a new kind of limp I invent to the tune of sprinklers along the way.

' I say. Then you see the Lechugas' drapes twitch open a crack. I need some more ginseng anyway. He nods to me. then thumps a cold bottle down in front of me.''I'll make it up to you. too. My ole lady's here. Then he smiles at the jury. even if you ain't allowed to say it anymore.'My ole lady's already halfway across the room. 'Just tell us. and we still have his birthday to look forward to. and jump out into the shady lea of the house. hi Margaret!' My ole lady breezes out of Lally's new rental car wearing a checked top that leaves a roll of her belly in the air. I squeeze her hand. Don't get me wrong. An American family sweeps past me into the elevator. to where they start thickening and softening into thigh. the kid. 'Wichita Lineman' is the song I call up. some of them. I get waves of sadness. I just have to Position and Package the thing.

Me. eyes closed.' George launches a finger of smoke at the ceiling. George. just sometime. I put on my guns before entering the store. wow. leading me past the octopus. The moment shows you that Mom's dosey-do world is supported by a network of candy-floss nerves. like a Barbie doll your dog's been chewing on for a month. throbbing. She's fatter than Mom. scraping up any ole crumb of hope. The kitten's in this box. kind of parades in front of them. and this big ole head of tangly blond hair that's always blown to hell. 'Mrs Ledesma?''Vernon!' snaps Mom. now. She has a lemon-fresh lack of knives about her. all hulky and black.'Vernon. He smiles. and important for me.''You parents on vacation?''Uh.

y sufres.' says a sign. I shuffle. Because. calling the weirdest fucken people Cindy. Her folks are like hillbilly types that don't move their arms when they walk. and I know I'm fucked for the rest of the journey. 'Barry was here.' he booms. my ole lady just added the whole affair to my knife. the nightly news. 'Vernon - we're talking accessory to murder here.I spin around to see the Smith County truck nose onto Beulah Drive. 'Can't she sense our grief?'George barks a cough. just a pin-prick. I picture the damage a table lamp with the shade off would do to both their fucken colons. a blast of arctic light framed in darkness. hear what I'm sayin?''My attorney can't even speak fucken English. Another has holes ripped through it. like any surprise could happen. The weather plays at their end too. As I spray the limes. She bawls. that's enough.