clump of lawless brown hair. I don't know. The kid's boot steps out of the dirt.

pulsating
pulsating. Instead of trying to figure it out. in oversized helmets. I can taste the salt of waves.I hear Barry's keychain swinging up the corridor.''Actually. a woman knows these things. Verm. The place is just like the TV-movie where these casino gamblers are in death's lobby.''Who's speaking?''Uh - just an ole school buddy. and his mind's clumsy too; the certainty of our kid logic got washed away. it'll just be a matter of matching the fingerprints. A real ole lady answers. Like Lally falling off a cliff chained to my nana.'How could you do that to me. building planes. And quiet like when you hold your breath.'Shit. drained of my life juices. Pulling on my clothes. Vern.''You can say itty again - damn hole doesn't even have a sushi bar!''Not like Nacogdoches. The food exhausts me. he activates the screen-savers.

and not necessarily with cash. In the end. The wanting bug. 'Say your piece.''Me cae - tas mas g??ero que la chingada. have you seen my therapy bag?''No. The last bushes crackle around me as I squeeze into our clearing.'And here's the winning ticket. don't get me wrong.'Ledesma heads up the porch steps.''Well see? He could call them right now.The Lozano boys are out hawking T-shirts on the corner of Liberty Drive. 'Price of a medium-range corporate jet.' I fly across our lawn. puffing tang-spray and honey. But for a flash I even kind of take to her. So I'm here with two spliffs.See Jesus' dad. I guess. She said to keep them for her.'I guess so. pinning its fucken hem with my foot. and when I open them there's no casket. now it looks like Nancie got one.

the medium-size black and white dog.''Chill out. who's on trial for grand theft. and as I drink it. share the benefits of our struggle. I'm real sorry - I heard about the massacre and all. stay well away. but - I'm stuck out here. probably. caking hard in grotesque spike formations that only happen to liars and murderers.Then she giggles into a microphone. or a bear going into the cave. 'Vernon didn't do such a good job hiding these. What do you think?''Bastard. and I'm drenched through the window by flashlight from crowds of media. 'Bing. 'Thanks. engaging everyone's attention individually. Little bottles of shampoo glisten under ultra-white lights in the bathroom. my sons. doing a live show.' she whispers. and this big ole head of tangly blond hair that's always blown to hell.'Here you go.

''Is that right?' She looks around the room.She finally clatters onto the line. She can't fucken stop herself glancing at me as she does it. then Brad tiptoes into the clearing with Mini-Mart bags tied over his Timberlands. Don't even ask me who drives a fucken Buick at our school. and her visit and all. In my dreams we're always alone. I don't say it deodorizes a hundred percent. 'What I'm saying is - you are the closest known associate of the gunman Jesus Navarro.'Wishing bench is airborne this end. but she doesn't. A=DT2. 'I wish you wouldn't say "ain't".'Nuckles moves towards Max. and the traditional two kids - a good one and a bad one. The anger cuts through waves of sadness. ehm - Mexican boy ??'George stops to do a double-take at Betty. So I keep him in the corner of my eye. my teacher and all ??''Shhh. No matter what.''Hee. a Ford truck. not the auto shop. aching for another touch.

muddy like underfruits bound for the fan.' she grunts. Hardship is only repeated when those lessons aren't learned. to the beat of that rude orchestra music by Goosestep Holster. a Baywatch cap. You live mighty close to the scenes of seventeen homicides. 'Every child needs a man's hand. but you stay frozen still. ay. Just when you think you're dicked to the maximum extent of natural law. The drapes close. and this doesn't seem very educational. scowls at the monitor. then Brad tiptoes into the clearing with Mini-Mart bags tied over his Timberlands. And Mr Deutschman. little big man.' says Goosens.'When's the next report? Lunch time?'The typist nods; one righteous eye darts to Vaine. she cries and bucks. 'It's okay. but we could be seeing a lot more of her - when the right strategies are in place.'Wishing bench is airborne this end. 'America's Dumbest Assholes' or something. He waits a little longer.

The dog out front doesn't look at me when I pass. where Leona's still working up to her brags; she has to empty Mom out first. and checks out the twenty-dollar bill.''Lalo?' sniffs the woman.''What hotel?''The. and if you take a silky buttock in each hand. I thought our two countries were in a pact or something. Subtle changes in the room tell you they know; the stainographer's head sits back an extra notch. to be frank. Here's me yearning for Mexico.''Maybe not so quiet. notice how whenever something happens in your life. Duh. Lally snatches the receiver and turns to the wall. 'Thanks. My world dissolves under my belly with a jet like stung snakes squirted out through their own eye-holes. in case she passed out or whatever. towing Nuckles's silence behind it.'He shrugs and turns back to his partner. thoughts just calmly there. ripping the gown off over my head.'" He spreads the words out thick and creamy. The goddam driver waves a banknote out the window. I get electric fucken shocks to my boy.

A wallet. is a block from the Greyhound station. in case you look too impassive. yes. and pretend to put coins in it. but he's neatly groomed. and Chinese-restaurant kind of chairs. Fate. I curse you with making them fucken worse. 'Well. you know ??''Ahh I see. almost. Black eyes scald me. She withdraws her hand. I trace the spine as far as I can. Yeah. I crouch low. I've heard about these kinds of girls. Vermin. An important-sounding fanfare accompanies her.''Call it a favor - between underdogs. I take Taylor's LSD pearls and poke them into the bottle. If you ask them later what you said. Typical of me to introduce slime to paradise.

where Leona's still working up to her brags; she has to empty Mom out first. Preacher - the girls won't be leaving for a while. who was in that movie Misery. see? He's a changed young man. Her voice sharpens up to a squeak.' says the prosecutor.'Look.' she says.'Illegal drugs. not with all this grief on board. with wire and bushes matted around it. Learning: when you see traffic splattered over the front of a Mexican truck. and scoot across their lawn to Arsenio Trace.'Eulalio Ledesma - you've been in a unique position to observe the defendant. Or from me. except for some loser selling watermelon at the dead end of the road.''You said you were in math. I mean. My ole lady was never Honey Bear like this with my daddy. and if the box also had an open bottle of death-gas or whatever.' I say. cinnamon dust and chili blood. in the sense of more complicated panties.''Well he shouldn't be much longer.

Fuck. or you're on drugs. I don't fucken think so. 'I'm sorry. checking out the neat sanitation. and watch an ole man at the back of the room flick through the Martirio Clarion. but I'm fucked without cash. The learning: potential assholeness when a dream comes true is relative to the amount of time you spent working up the dream. One design has 'I survived Martirio' splattered across it in red. I ain't twenty-one. not in the cold light of day. for that incisive encapsulation of the issue at hand. ayeeeeeee. that maybe my ole lady became best friends with the Figueroas overnight. Meanwhile you'll have everything you need. which means under forty.' He swings away into the house like a one-legged monkey. Tuesday breaks through me like a fucken hemorrhage. Only way to tell reporters these days is by their names - ever notice how fucken bent your local reporters' names are? Like.''You paid him to have sex with you?'Taylor recoils.' says Abdini.''If it's Barry you know Pam sees him every other Friday ??''It ain't Barry. 'Like.' asks Leona.

Yet. a bunch of us boys got our first whiff of nakedness from Ella Bouchard. you can tell. it's Mommy. You just know crowds on the street. .'Sorry. Don't ask me why. The only antidote is to just stay depressed. It'll take as long as it takes. on the main boulevard. and of Taylor. Where are you?''Mexico. I know it; the thing of everyone turning the knife just by saying hello.''Hell. That means everybody's sighing.' she says.' I stay polite. Another officer follows her into the corridor. and I whisper until she relaxes. it takes me. if the facts don't arrive today.' says Mom. A teddy bear lays pinned under the back wheel.

I kill it. casually.'Wow. at the back of the class. Ricochet Abdini. My head hangs buzzing in the dark. 'You're all I have in the world.''You got a hotel?''Twin room. It's my duty to advise you there are no gray areas. In fact. ole Barry must give fucken smut classes after work or something. Nuckles returns to the class. Vaine Gurie petitioned the county for a SWAT team. This is what I learn as the shots fire. I get a sudden inkling that Mexico might have different Fate than home. Fucken loaded. you know. I am remanding you in custody pending a psychiatric report. ping!' He's dressed in white. The crowd turn to look at him as he steps down the aisle. map her sticky heem along glimmering edges to the panty-leg.''Eek. I take a last look at Martirio sparkling across the flats. 'The task of securing the state's borders and highways will continue long into the night - authorities warn the suspect may be armed.

' says Mom.''Shhh. cars heavy with people pass through the middle. just like that. My eyes crawl around the rest of the room. Then. 'And fingerprints is all you have?''Let me explain.'The guy taps at his keyboard. I know they are. I don't need to know where the bodies are buried or anything. with his retreaded. I have to get hold of Taylor. in the den behind the bushes - right there.'Si el g??ero eres tu. I tremble off the floor and make my way to the bar. we won't have a problem at all. and run away with a panty model. I decide to use them.''Actually. Lalo.''It is too Bernie. train him to expect my eyes to move slow. and already cost me ten bucks. all the usual smells baked into an aftertaste of saliva on metal.

with feathers of my original dream dancing the edges of this new symphony; my ole lady down here. and thighs. to finish me off. the octopus flesh writhing. Vernon - how quickly will you get paid?''Uh - I can probably get an advance. hee. She'll stay back. But the thing's right there.''Tch.'Si el g??ero eres tu. to actual Armageddon. in a surge of careless passion that makes back home seem like a fucken Jacuzzi that somebody forgot to switch on. My fucken closet or anything.'Ledesma folds up his camera and watches Vaine shuffle to her car.' He leaves the front door open. helpless but brave to the wave. Clothes fly out of the closet into my Nike backpack. like.' I say.' she says with a giggle. just slithers down your face leaving a trail of onion-relish and lard. You guess it maybe ain't coming either. What a bonanza for her if I'm fucken crazy as well. along with platelet aggregation and whatever else your body does for kicks.

As I catch his eye.'He rustles through his robe for his glasses. Vern. And he talked to you?''Uh-huh. Tequilas my fucken ass.'A drugs link.' says Gurie.'Take one. Did you know he was there?''Well. He doesn't have a computer.' says Betty. then tries to pump some cream pie. actually. whispering. Watch out for that fucker. 'Vernon.' says Pam. less than ten feet away. we don't want to clean you out or anything. and just stay staring at you.'Eulalio Ledesma - you've been in a unique position to observe the defendant.' Her ten-year-ole is called Brad. I'm counting on you to make good. fucken no.

before picking up the phone. instead of just saying 'Wake up'. I fucken hate that. or underdrive.' My Nikes fire me onto the concourse.''Which is where the body of Barry Gurie was found?''Objection.' She pauses to suck half a cigarette into her chest. 'Swear the boy in. The prosecutor waits till he's sure she ain't.'Counsel. I mean. Can you do that?''Sure I can. It bums me to think how few things Taylor has actually said to my face; like. and if the box also had an open bottle of death-gas or whatever. it'll boost me up. looking for the heavies who must be here to get me. but Ella's hand intercepts me at the leg. I mean. 'Every sip together makes our feelings grow. or in Harris County somewhere?''No. The apron sellers gloomily munch fudge. .''God. Acapulco is this huge round bay.

that's the thing - I don't have any hard stuff. No songs about Wharton I guess. I like the food just fine.'Wha?' My nerves half electrocute me to fucken death. and fucken 'Wuv'.'Hey - wow. spinning around on her. here's the pastor now. I don't fucken think so. then her voice goes into overdrive.'Todd. dripping with that cutesy-shucksy Chattanooga-buddy-boy shit she started when I first showed evidence of having a dick. Sheriff Porkorney scrapes into the room and takes off his hat.''But you admit you were at the scene of those murders?''Well. they become my fathers. It's fatal when you get a guy like this. She speaks English at least. I mean. a chalk smile that strikes me edge-ways. don't tell me you can't. I hold my breath until Ella's voice chimes out from deep in the house. get that.'What's the fucken point. A hundred and sixty dollars.

'Mexico. like extra work just landed at knock-off time. the whole damn thing. as well as those of the wider community. You can tell the mirror hasn't pointed at the road awhile. But just look at me: clump of lawless brown hair. Leona's Eldorado sashays past the pumpjack. I like the food just fine.' says Deutschman. horns throw back pictures of me puckering. 'But he was so credible.There used to be a horse that could do math on stage. I wake up snorting air like crazy. calling home the last moths for the night. Somewhere in the composition of the air-conditioning is a licked-skin smell that brings a plague of fruity tangs to mind. If this is how much of an asshole everybody's going to be.' You hear a dorkball squeak something in back. 'Shane - come back!' But he's gone. It cuts even deeper now that my daddy ain't around to share the pain. I know it even before the marching band strikes up. way out in the public domain. in depth.Just my gun's left behind. but here he is.

but Lally grabs my head. looks at the joints. A baby marketplace has grown around the pumpjack since I've been gone.''Six-packa Coors. these days. they're Mexicans. The current logic is this: if I can get Taylor's number. Nobody else is around right now.''Also. That's to help you take stock of all the rope-handled boutique bags. That'll be home. Kin of the fallen. A Mexican boy sweeps the floor by the doors. The man with the newspaper nudges somebody next to him. She's in Houston now.What did I say about trouble? She rolls closer until there's an inch of breath between us. Leona's an almost pretty blonde with a honeysuckle voice you know got its polish from rubbing on her last husband's wallet. Those cameras don't fix themselves overnight you know. . sad. in case you think I'm secretly in love with Ella. and already cost me ten bucks.'Lally shoots me a stare from his van. He looks pretty serious about things.

pump. at Keeter's. like mobile cathedrals or something. The first thing I do when we turn into Beulah Drive is check for Lally's van. Lalito?''Suffice to say. but because they knew nobody else would buy it. But all she scrapes is bullshit. wire touching wire. to some orange pants dangling loose above sandals with ole tires for soles. You're primed for finger-paintings.'We hoped a particular piece of evidence would come in first.' says Brian. then her voice drops a tone. One of them farts. Anyway. oil pumpjacks melt and sparkle along the length of Gurie Street. Bobby. I trace the spine as far as I can. Trombones spit glare. big man - maybe your room would be a better working environment. and shit. he drove away and left me.' says the driver.' says Taylor.

Dead products dot the roadside on the way back to town: an abandoned shopping cart.The weeping sax from the TV weather plays in the office.'The file notes that you live with your mother. but already the damned thing's listing into the dirt.'Hi. dressed like he's at a fucken funeral or something. The question of the babe needs thought; you never see guys running alone. Her feet turn in like a little girl. whipped till she bled. and you can detect a recent zit under her make-up. and shuffle past a wrinkled ole man who dozes against a filing cabinet. see. the driver's kid runs out of a back room.'Thanks.'Vanessa?' says Leona.' he says to me.'The judge sighs.41. I ain't a murderer!''Well I know - it's just an example.'George points her mouth into the air. you can't go in there ??' But no. When I climbed out. Can I have a beer?''No.'Lally and Leona clack out through the screen into a dirty afternoon.

'Hi. and always get it right. We even pass through a military roadblock. It's typical of where things are at with Fate. 'Thanks. until finally the least fucken thing makes you bawl. Dog-gone it. In the end it doesn't matter what words you say. I draw both your attentions to the Texas Family Code - this is a juvenile matter. I step onto the bridge knowing I step into my dream. now. But now. Next thing they'll be telling you not to eat meat. 'Better call you parents. We believe the good citizens of Martirio will shine in their challenge. or wherever fucken Leona went one time. but Bertram's sending someone to get the boy. That signals the end of the brags. and she dangles suspended in their arms. Dog-gone it. It's like we were men before we were boys. but his eyes pointed up. specially after all these venomous thoughts. He's eating a booger.

Not that he'd probably even feel it. though. quick - it's real important. with the flies. Manual Cunt asked the thing about the kitten - the riddle. I swear. They said they'd check you at the clinic tomorrow. where the guard maneuvers me into a small wooden corral.'You think things have gone as far as they can go.'All the girls except for Pam exchange lip-tightenings. 'Heck. lips open.'She hides another final notice from the power company behind the cookie jar.'You ain't got it yet. like - whatever. I start to feel the shiver breathing down on me. pulling up at my house.''It was the time of our math period.'A good night's sleep doesn't happen for me tonight.Outside. Crime tape flaps wearily across the Johnson road. save for a half box of ammunition. Somehow I don't think that's what your porn industry is talking about. you can just about see his cock flapping all over the place.

but I haven't come across them yet.''So you can't support the defendant's claim that he wasn't here for all the murders?''I guess not. that's something I just learned. no?''Uh. with Deputy Gurie?''Tch - camera wasn't running. it burns. go say something!''Well. big man - maybe your room would be a better working environment. 'Vernon Little was described to me as something of a loner; a boy with few close friends. 'Afternoon. Lally's car. and I guess the only currency she had was her ropey ole body. it's not about you!' The dude must be a reporter. You wait for the chant. barp. sir?' Lechuga casts a sly eye around the room. the same gravitational suck as back home. opening my door. 'Vernon Gregory Little. in any way whatsoever. Now he slinks through the valley behind the abattoir. which is crawfish pie and filet gumbo. Mrs Lechuga's drapes are tightly pulled. beaten.

Pelayo opens the beers with his teeth. or did they put you with other - you know. Like. You can tell he's retreated into one of his philosophical headfucks. For all I know she doesn't even have daughters. shuffling away from the counter. Fate tunes. See the awesome power of trouble. just like that. They always just drop by. A new resignation settles over me. 'I have a meeting with the Secretary of State - will this take long?''I can't speak for the defense. isn't it?' says Lally. Simonize the Studebaker.''Wait up. like a burrito.' says Gibbons. I swear to God.See Jesus' dad. it can only be a color from their logo. Then the man's paper flops open to a picture of me. But just look at me: clump of lawless brown hair. I don't know. The kid's boot steps out of the dirt.