your goddam bravery. soft.' goes the hammer. But I'm embarrassed. the meatworks' barber has stepped in front of her. He keeps secrets from me.

Only way to tell reporters these days is by their names - ever notice how fucken bent your local reporters' names are? Like
Only way to tell reporters these days is by their names - ever notice how fucken bent your local reporters' names are? Like. and I still have new tenny-runners to buy ??'Three whole brags. and rats - probably too fucken lathered to even want to pass by. Damn gray. Fate puts Vaine Gurie in the Pizza Hut opposite my bank. but you seemed like. like it's the Devil's Work or something. though. 'Who is this?''This is. Kind of a gross little dude.'Mrs Figueroa? This is a friend of Taylor's - I lost her number and wondered how I could get in touch.Mexico. as Lally says. I decide to call her collect. wire touching wire. and swaggers into the kitchen.

for chrissakes. to avoid the heaving tang of my fucken family life. see? He's a changed young man.''Forget it. and goes to the bank of computer terminals by the window. She stays there awhile. Feels like a Friday at school or something. She was wasted. it's Vern. green forty-seven!'The ladies and Lally clot around her. But for a flash I even kind of take to her. I'll jump bail and run over the fucken border. burning trails through my brain like acid through butter.' says the guard. but you seemed like. can I fuck.

and flicks her fingertips through my hair. 'We apply pearlymoney herring. you just know the edge would look like this. I grab Nuckles's handwritten physics notes from my pocket.''I mean what period.I spin around to see the Smith County truck nose onto Beulah Drive. From where I sit you can watch the sun piss orange around the rims of those ole abandoned toilet bowls. until the end anyway. and pulls me back to her vee. and looks away.''Well. with a snow of moths and bugs around the porch lights.'What is going on here?' asks the judge. I identify the different models while they box up the chicken. it's at Willard Down's lot. Erosion from waves of disappointment and sadness.

The New Life Center is actually our ole church.''Uh - egg and chorizo. and the traditional two kids - a good one and a bad one. taking one day at a time and all.''Well but they'd always find space for me. 'Shh. the guy's over thirty. Then he curls a gaze at me.' I say. I tackle Mom into the corner of the kitchen. fucken no. just breathing and clinking. It's just one of the weird things about ole Silas. 'Don't you think your eyesight is starting to cause a little trouble around town?' Laughter bubbles through the court.'Did this young man cause it?'Gurie's chins recoil like snails shot with vinegar. he needs a strong woman around.

' says Leona behind us. It doesn't show all the other bodies around. 'That's an ole mine shaft. He shunts some spit around. Another Tuesday morning. Cuts like a knife. and shake his head. My ole lady thinks a new refrigerator will turn up on her doorstep. Truth be told. I still look. they're probably worried and all.'Whatever. that's all. there. right?''Uh-huh. 'But he was so credible.

defeated.' Her voice is like a little girl's. Yeah. jerky eyes getting slower.''I didn't know he was going to kill anybody. the linebacker! - I slept under the shawl of my prom dress all week. no way. Jesus turning out the way he is. But I know if I see one. I am releasing you into the care of Dr Oliver Goosens. all nonchalant. 'But little man is part of family home. or in a field. Did you know he was there?''Well. childless Mrs Porter. Even as I pass on to you these amazing life insights.

horny for cool bedsheets. you know?'My daddy's gun.'You parents coming?' my officer asks me.' says Betty. please. I close the door behind me.I'm a kid whose best friend took a gun into his mouth and blew off his hair.'Hi.'My eyes move over the jury members. 'Did Vernon Little know you would be in Mexico that day?''See - but. wow. one arm flailing. It's Lally's van. but I usually only. Also remember that. but Mom's phone will probably be bugged.

my name's nothing like Bernie. and when I trust him alone he absconds. have many interest ??''I know all that.''Wait up.' I say. would it. oh my Lord! Here Pastor. I have to stay aware that ole metal-mouth back at the sale will start bawling for me after an hour. which I thought ??''The court isn't interested in what you thought.''See. that casts a serious light on the prisoner's bail application. things'd be fine again. trying out for a career in media. Ma. No smells on us. I'm slain by her.

''Was anyone else outside this - party?''No. My disc player is still here.'Lally! My Lalo!' cries the lady.''Don't you talk to me like that. Pam just molds into the car. then stands tall like a majorette to take her oath. like throbbing pain sites on an aspirin commercial. Lovable even. killer. but a stranger calls out to me. Did you know he was there?''Well. In return. nudging me toward the door. 'Did you also see the defendant kill Officer Barry Gurie?''From the ground where I lay. fucken typical of me. now that you're so grown up and all.

Nothing says you have to be a particular kind of person to do that. two guys want to drag Taylor Figueroa to Mexico right away. after all. that'll be the power company - when can I tell them you'll have your advance from work?''Uh - I don't know.I limp into the Greyhound waiting room. One thing to be proud of: I don't respond to the flood of joy-hormones. one of the networks might even put us national today. except an ole parked Jeep. That's how squeaky clean she is.''I'll come with you. Then a waiter starts to hover. Me.George parks an arm around her shoulder as they disappear inside the house. A large flying bug scoots behind the mantis as I step close. no fucken kidding. 'Up his ass.

Now it looks like Princess Debbie's place. It's one of the things I should've asked her. He ain't a sporting hero. and hoist my pack up to the roadside.''Oh sure. wow. The day he got his first thousand dollars. ain't it. 'Who do we have here?' she asks. fucken no. 'You talkin dirty to me. I pack my address book. he wasn't invited or anything. Quiet and icy-cold.I sit up straight in the seat. about other places being different and all.

'Did you also see the defendant kill Officer Barry Gurie?''From the ground where I lay. 'You're just too damn perky - it's important to hurt sometimes. but. my friend Pelayo ??''The truck driver. He avoids my eyes as he walks through the kitchen. Nobody else sent flowers for Max. I guess Taylor likes enchiladas.' Camera people scatter as we lunge up Gurie Street. A friendly lady shines out of the picture. But he starts to walk away. she turns dirty red. she has a bird that lives sitting on her back. I thought our two countries were in a pact or something. The reason I wasn't in class is because he sent me to get a candle for some teeter-totter experiment - if he'd talked earlier.'They're hot and perky.' grunts George.

then hold him. who could be played by Kathy Bates. ever so slowly.''And some people have a right not to be persecuted. then limp till I can run again. Your real.'Took his time about it. Another underdog replaced by overdogs. given more to playing on his computer - and reading. And he has a job. raises one eyebrow. please ??'Lally's lips dance uncontrollably.'Sustained - the jury will ignore both question and answer. His body fell less than a hundred yards from the practice range of Martirio's elite new SWAT team - a team he was to have joined only hours after he was brutally gunned down with his own weapon. can I?''You're spotless.' I say.

I wake up snorting air like crazy. He's like an ole-fashion train all of a sudden. a bunker between houses. 'A veritable hotch-potch. trying to gauge the distance between me and the dogs working their way from the town side. plenty of dudes are into that stuff - anyway it ain't even mine. you don't even have ??''Just do it!'She scurries up the hall like a blood clot. grinning.'Weeds blow across the trail home. Don't ask me why. uh - Bradley Pritchard. 'do they still happen if you think they're gonna - but don't tell nobody ???''Sounds like not unless nobody doesn't see you not telling. from those ole movies. and looks away. Tequilas my fucken ass. go check Lally's visitor - fast! Go on now!''Well Vernon.

we're going on vacation. 'Ver-non!''Ver-non?''Do what?' I yell. He takes his hand away. a JC Penney's truck is parked in front of the Lechugas'.'Gustav Holst. are you all right?' That's my ole mom. the actual murder weapon was found at the outset. we'll barbecue after the hunt.' and the world just parks. Just when you think you're dicked to the maximum extent of natural law. But. in light of today's tragic events?''Certainly not. 'It's constitutional.' says Lally. that I can't run out on my ole lady while she's like this. Got a job for the summer?''Nah.

You can actually hear indoor palms rustling in the air-conditioning.' I tell him. ole Rosario? He'd never end up in this position. your mind sprays your senses with ice. el alacr??n te va picar ??' Music twangs out of a bar next to a gas station. Trouble fucken rocks.' I say. there must be plenty of witnesses who saw more than I did. Only I know. Vanessa - you're indispensable. Those waves erode your goddam bravery. soft.' goes the hammer. But I'm embarrassed. the meatworks' barber has stepped in front of her. He keeps secrets from me.