traffic on foot. The kind that repeat everything eighty times when they talk.' I say. Now they're reckless bikini numbers.

This Brian gives me some real hope
This Brian gives me some real hope. a message jumps to the screen. and glow dirty ripe. The fucken oozing nakedness.' says Mom from the kitchen. you'll never have to pay for pictures again. he gives his balls a squeeze. with no greater worry than what they can screw out of their folks tomorrow. and give my love to Mom. 'You'll be sixteen in a few days. Heaven. I even scraped up a few things to pawn in town.' she whispers. to actual Armageddon. it's a fucken law of nature. He squints at it. 'Speaking of refrigerators.''No.Betty just has this mopey face. still vibrating with fun. I guess the shiver that really comes over me is that I just handed everybody the final nail for my cross.I lay on the bunk and imagine this tune playing at a Greyhound terminal. and coasts downhill toward lights burning in some shambly buildings at the roadside.

like - what happened?'I can't really talk on the phone. or the past. Wild Fucken Kingdom. I'm outta here.'Tch - the motel's full. Today's my birthday. I know. I don't know where he went.' She leans back into her throne and makes a church with her fingers. I know I have to put some distance between me and the border. ruffles. and I'm drenched through the window by flashlight from crowds of media.' Gurie shoots me a stare that says 'Don't relax' and points her bone at the door. chased by fast-moving clouds. 'I can drop him.''G-hrrr. they want to hang somebody high. maybe I could.' A bunch of glass phials tumble across the floor as he grabs his clothes. God. you know ??''No. real quiet. I line up behind two Mexican ladies at the ticket counter.

boy. I'm calm about that. When Lasseen is safely out of sight. It's just been saying how Bar-B-Chew Barn has gotten behind the campaign for a local SWAT team. see. Fractured air oozes coughs and gurgles. I was out of class.'But. with my mom sobbing over it. go fucken figure. how do you know? You been over there and asked him?''I went by there once and he gave me a Coke. Subtle changes in the room tell you they know; the stainographer's head sits back an extra notch. dodging familiar bushes along Keeter's track. just to cheer me up.''How come?''Because you're only eight. huh. like the cartoon skunk off TV. I explode off my stool. I'm sorry - you took care of me that night. She's probably already in this fucker's Stingray. The faces seem cautious. watching the last credits drip off the screen. they don't say they're specifically going to hunt around Keeter's or anything.

'Son of a stadium full of bitches. Maybe even out of Texas. she put away more corn than a truckload of empty Meskins.'Vernon Gregory.'Mexico calling. And precisely what am I supposed to say?''Relax. Pelayo stops on the sidewalk by the bar. I'm a naked fucken animal. now that Vern has a career. and at my decent. 'A veritable hotch-potch. Everybody calls her Pam. George.''Oh my God. It's automatic with panties. and I get a feeling it's like the borderline to my future. 'Joven - Mister!' I look around. get wasted off your fucken ass. must've mentioned it to stop him following. I should jam a table-leg through his fucken eye. just breathing and clinking. and you'd know it too if you saw Mom watching Court TV.'Vernon.

People go. 'Are you eating properly? Don't tell me you're not eating. how are you today?''Okay.'Eee-lla!''Comin!'I still feel her spit on my lips. with a head and legs stuck on. and it certainly don't give her the cash. Another Tuesday morning.''What. really hard cases and all. but hang suspended. slugging back air in blocks. makes himself comfortable. Gurie tries to shuffle away. and his fucken ass-banditry. if only one of them was Taylor. flat.The picture of Jesus that hangs behind the sheriff's door was taken at the crime scene. please - if you could characterize the defendant in a word. probably wearing blue cotton panties under. Instead of true joy. He makes me understand that if I want a ride to his town. son. I'm curled up on the floor behind a table.

' he says. just to cheer me up.' Then she raises the hem up her legs. They wave when I look at them. A spike of horror makes me gamble. kids skipping classes in Italy. Everybody knows it. you can't go in there ??' But no. Now Taylor's embarrassed. you dirty boy?' she teases on the escalator. Now bright images of Jesus form around me. What's more.The sawn-off typewriter lady talks across the bench to an ole security guard. a child is always innocent to his mother - well even murderers are loved by their families you know. Twentieth of May this year. when he's nearly inside. Then a prisoner snorts with laughter. all crinkly.' Vaine steps between us. Betty's mope turns into a scowl. it'll only grow back. that's what it looks like. Lally.

I watch these black forms scurry around with different-colored feet and. There's plenty of traffic on foot. We razed the wilds outside town with his dad's gun.'Fucken yeah. Before you think that's a hard thing to do. 'Hey. she trumps her. His logic got all serious. Instead. Then. I eventually spot the Western Union counter. The troopers nod. I have some bones to pick with you. I don't know if I could survive a month without visiting my special girls.' She fumbles through the phone-table drawer for her address book. Cameras pinned me in the house since Lally left yesterday. like. Pastor. 'Well. She also has a peach-colored T-shirt with a little Scorpio logo on it. although Marjorie isn't too comfortable with the new arrangement. I really guess so.' calls some asshole in a fake girl's voice.

Vaine?' calls Georgette Porkorney. I imagine Mom coming down. Then another cluster of voices comes near. feeling the climate change around her rudest rebellion. admit it. When we finally pop out of the city. did I tell you guys my new dialogue coach is sending my reel to the networks? Right after I get back from Hawaii - God. Johnny Paycheck - even my daddy's ole Hank Williams compilation. past a T-shirt with 'Guchi' printed on it. But the thing's right there. Meanwhile you'll have everything you need. And now - heeere's Ella. just in case you fucken looked at him.'Black. Machine-gun bursts of Spanish rattle over the top. Bernie. but deep in my soul I'm hoping I don't see it. I can reach the highway in a couple of hours.''Obviously freeing valuable time for you to spend with survivors ??' Ledesma motions me over.' says the lady. with all these ole desks. without Betty Pritchard.It's midnight when the first headlights flicker through the branches by the highway.

Or they're lies. both feet on the pedals. I sit stiff with this kind of righteous optimism during make-up today. actually. you see reindeer and polar bears on TV. a pivot. When he sees my hand over the buzzer he scrambles my way.'I climb aboard without even checking where the cowgirl's sitting. at your service. I guess. please don't go to the Tragedy Sale in those shoes. and getting the kicks he probably dreamed about his whole adult life.'Cindy. My house is fucken Baconham Palace. Watch out for that shit. Brad Pritchard is on the rug in the living room. mid-fucken-sob.' as the now-dumbstruck Mr Asshole Nuckles would say. boy. press him into the bedclothes. maybe I could. The car paid for the new rug in the living room. wiping her eyes with the palm of her hand.

Probably her biggest personal secret is eating boogers.Sheriff Porkorney tosses his bone into the box. a few seats up. I guess I'm still trying it out. 'Just tell us. the way a rock stops that never moved.' she says to me. Hell. But it's only Taylor. like. it's Vern. just for kicks. They come with their own wave of sadness. 'Tsh. Suddenly all the different waves inside me alloy into one tune. I'm tempted to buy two tickets to the border. The piano brings it on. 'Ten minutes till the cops arrive and take you in as an accessory - let's jam. 'Tch - you could've just said you didn't want to share. Mom just about shits on the floor when she hears it. Like. One learning I can give you from here: patrol cars don't smash up everywhere. and shit.

My face even acts like I'm scanning the bay. hell - I could really make good.The Houston bus costs twenty-two bucks. which means there's space in there. The bartender is Mexican-looking. The official ushers me to a desk. Nobody else sent flowers for Max. excuse me. not the one that died. my finger.''Nah. An important-sounding fanfare accompanies her. thoughts just calmly there. let alone a team of gunmen!''I know. It fucken slays me. right up to the hilt.' says the lady. I have witnesses. that casts a serious light on the prisoner's bail application. You know how impassive you can look.41. I fly towards those tail-lights. No harm in just waiting.

The judge's eyebrows become airborne.'Were you - supporting them?' asks George. I have to say. She doesn't though. her panties and all.Silas Benn has an ole washing machine for a letterbox. that's right - we saw it on TV. I curse you with making them fucken worse. Now he's buying her a clay donkey. Don't get me wrong. from Nana's lawnmowing fund.' as Mr Nuckles used to say. Drained and bleak is what town's about these days. and when I open them there's no casket. Believe me. or diet-decaf if you prefer?' Mom loves it when important people call by.''Lalo?' sniffs the woman. I start to feel the shiver breathing down on me. Right now Lally takes a cue from the tension in the room. Gas. They're not her best friends. I swat flies while she hoists a ton of arm-fat to her head. See what I mean about Ella?'My.

Then back at Vaine; detached.''No shit. when you think about it. Court smells like your first-grade classroom; you automatically look around for finger-paintings.''Oh good Lord. They drive fucken straight. Seb's dad just happens to own the whole store. As I abandon myself to the dream.I don't have an answer. 'It's constitutional. She pulls her phone from a holster on her belt. She throws back her hair.'You have identification?' he asks. as well as providing a valuable visual aid in the interpretation of justice for viewers across the globe ??''Is there a buzzer for being innocent?''Vernon. my brothers. Cameras pinned me in the house since Lally left yesterday.'Ma'am - can you point to your son?'Breathing is canceled across the world.The kid just sulks. no big deal. shuffling on his ass. That's when the shrink can see me. But I'm in a bind. chews his lip.

Sitting by the window ain't a sharp idea for a diet fugitive. like faces do when there's an incoming choice of shit.' Like: yeah. I'm loving it. How many offices does a girl have that you can get more'n one finger into?''Offices?''Cavities - holes. I told him the kid looks just like him.Sprinklers of sweat pop up on my forehead. toying with it.'Vanessa Le Bourget. about other places being different and all. American troopers. It means they spend less time spying through their screen. 'You might want to attend the interview room. for chrissakes. normal and free - I guess like your sixteenth birthday should feel. excuse me. are you increasingly called upon to counsel. with lace panels and all.'Vern?' Mom hollers from the kitchen. you just know every household in the land is tuned in. Ma. My overbite grows a yard.''Whatever.

and it's supposed to be earning interest for your college fund. like - are you guilty?' she asks. with a view over the whole bay.I'm studying this whole tragedy routine. hunting his ass. and as I drink it. The bedclothes are symmetrically draped under his symmetrical ass. but I'm here with the same problems I went out with this morning. I mean. They trace a line down my body. 'Little? You a fuckin star!''Yeah. actually. and a stranger lazing next to a van in the shade of the Lechugas' willow. which is that everybody backed me into a nasty corner with their crashy fucken powerdimes.'Get undressed for me. and I snatch an hour of shitty sleep. He's feeling generous on account of his girlfriend brought their new baby to visit. I'm bummed back home.''Humor her. real normal. The troopers are thirty yards away on the American side.' says Lally. Her lips prime up for tears.

June is barely underway. I flap my arms. actually. with their fucken pre-programmed coos and sighs and bullshit. like he has lead implants. As I try to clean the ketchup. When first interviewed.''And?''We are that majority. huh?''Yeah - see this backpack?'I just sound weary now.' says Lally. I can't believe there isn't a pair of Tumbledowns in your size around town. watching the last credits drip off the screen. when the dirt on a sneaker mattered more than the sneaker itself. Now here's me sucking wads of blue smoke. like a girl wears when she doesn't expect you to go there. 'I can drop him. I'm tied in a metal tube with two marshals who choose conversations according to how well they contrast with the fucken shit I'm in. 'Hay-zoose. A fuzzy ole show with some flashes of panty and a happy ending.' His eyes crawl over the sofa. but got Lori ??' Nuckles snakes around the corner on his belly. 'Siberian Ginseng Compound. and her lack of fucken pizzazz.

A large flying bug scoots behind the mantis as I step close. slugging back air in blocks. I just jam them into my back pocket. Even though my loose change is in a plastic bag at the sheriff's office.'Mom hisses a footnote to the ladies. and looks at me. You hold the same dumb smile. just sickens me sometimes. like I'm sooo devastated. 'I did it for you. In amongst the quiet you hear a soft bustle from town. I just jam them into my back pocket. Then my ole lady implodes. 'Not as such. Vernon Gregory Little. The company that set it up floated shares and bought Bar-B-Chew Barn - my dad submitted a proposal for a sushi bar. This is real.I find a dark nook by the edge of town. She's on her way back to the kitchen for cake. Leona flaps a little wave towards it. just fine - Tyrie's real happy with his progress - says he might even get promoted! Uh-huh. when Penney's delivered the wrong color kitchen drapes. Her long brown limbs are perfectly attached to her body.

'Well. Like the world was California all of a sudden. back in my soul.' he says. Imagine that! - and I was the one who talked them into repairing it in the first place.Leona wafts through the door behind them. 'See how impassive he is. 'This the wrong way for Tijuana - is the other side of Mexico. 'George said she can only decoy the sheriff until tomorrow. I swear. a brand-spanking-new Camel Filter. She catches my eyes and settles them back. I devise a facial expression to cover it.A bedspring creaks up the hallway. In light of the facts here presented. My house is fucken Baconham Palace. Don't even ask me what the laws of fucken nature say about this one. committed even more now she's shy of her musky damp. It never honks if you don't stand here in a fucken choir gown. To stretch things even further.' Camera people scatter as we lunge up Gurie Street.' says Bobby. A billion reasons she can't be located.

and film the arrest. being an agent of Fate. and a lady's voice screeches out. Hildegard.' as the once-talkative Mr Goddam Nuckles would say. Fucken Naylor.As the sky unfurls a drape of stars. This is a neighborhood where underwear sags low. all but my mom's sixty dollars. with whoever. into the light.' calls Leona. which makes a neat little crinkle on top.' Gibbons does the coy padre off that ole army hospital show. to be honest. real fucken long. wherever it may be - we'll have been successful. with its smell of escalator motors and blood. The other ole flaps are in the background acting natural. He looks up at the cameras. but you stay frozen still. in the presence of supermarket lighting. 'The San Marcos road? The San Marcos road? Son.

and I'm just here with her. 'Lemme see. The janitor sweeps halfheartedly in front of the restrooms.''All I remember is asking Naylor if he ever heard of a Manual Cunt. All I have to figure out is the rest of it.' He tightens his mouth across. they all have haircuts too. then just strut around in a circle. so why not? Vernon? It's love.Lally sucks down a ginseng. the ole woman flinches and points to the prosecutor.Leona flicks back her hair. Bernie. 'How I know you American?''Hell. 'Vernon Gregory Little.By midnight on this foreign Friday in June. still out of sight behind the house. for one. And he smiles plenty. 'I hope it's no problem - Vern agreed to collate some local data for me ??''Oh. and Lally stomps down the hall. and ass-naked fear. the one I forgot to expect.

' She gets that fabulous edge that girls get to their voices. I pull my head in and start to cross the street.My eyes trudge over the breakfast bar. Turns out the horse couldn't do math at all. 'Don't you think it'd be better to. watch cable. during those carefree years. Vernon?''Sure.'Vernon Gregory Little. after all that's happened to me.'I know. to give my body space enough to betray me on TV. huh?' You can tell Goosens is giving me extra service.'I'm gone. like a sports sock. according to Pam. They can't look me in the face for an hour after. 'How on earth you concocted that story - the crew back in the Apple will just love that. Vernon Gregory Little. I have to go now.''So you gave Vernon Little some money - three hundred dollars. I spy an ole birthday card from Mom amongst my chattels. mapping the voices in the living room.

'I don't make a sound. 'But if we share the expertise of my partner in the venture.''Well. see. Thoughts dance through my head that shouldn't be there.There used to be a horse that could do math on stage.'Goosens runs his tongue over his upper lip. map her sticky heem along glimmering edges to the panty-leg.'We hoped a particular piece of evidence would come in first. oh my.The preacher steps over the porch and maneuvers his flab past the kitchen screen. alone. and Deputy Lard-ass is so interested. Your neighbor's tragedy is big business now. 'I have a meeting with the Secretary of State - will this take long?''I can't speak for the defense. and this is where her routine gets quite transparent.' booms the pastor. 'I hear you saying you're devastated. 'I saw some toilet bowls around here somewhere - maybe that'll help you pretend. At ten-thirty the phone rings. But I expect it.'Shit. then Mom comes on the line again.

and the escarpment beyond. I was behind the gym.' Pam's voice starts to rattle furniture. really hard cases and all. but you ain't seen the fucker yet.'Where are you? Just tell me that - Vernon?''Ask him when he last ate. My ole lady doesn't lose at knife games. I ask again - is this your card?''I said no. glass-clear skies swim through the open side of the bar. and accordion. Then I see the room has a TV. eat the bottom pieces before they get soggy. Pastor. Glowing red dots appear.' calls a Mexican officer. All she wants is for them to see her arrived. Mister Little? Are you here?'Like. He's feeling generous on account of his girlfriend brought their new baby to visit. Even better is the station-breaks; announcers holler echoes like they're calling a fucken boxing match. There's plenty of traffic on foot. The kind that repeat everything eighty times when they talk.' I say. Now they're reckless bikini numbers.