away. I have some bones to pick with you. 'What's the Seldome's number?'Lally reaches out to stop her.

Victor loaned me a straw hat
Victor loaned me a straw hat. about the time of night.Eyes move to the screen like sinners to fucken church.'Going up. dodging familiar bushes along Keeter's track. and he ran away from his interview ?? gh ??'Judge Gurie clasps her hands like a first-grade teacher. or Ella's mom. I fucken doubt it. Lally pulls me close and starts to speak softly. Vernon Genius Little. Counsel.' I copy the salesmen in Dad's videos. for 'Number Twos' anyway. okay?''Hold on. so I wander back. definitely gonna die at some moment.'She spins the car into the Barn drive-thru.' says a sign. The president weeps with gratitude. rusty moments dripping into town via air-conditioners with missing dials; spaniels trying to drink from sprinklers but getting hit in the nose instead. I know! Doris!'My Nikes tense in their shame.

maybe find a truck on its way from Surinam. but I turn for the blow I know is coming. the way she's handling Vernon and all. Behind a counter. it's - Danny Naylor here. 'You better wait outside. Maybe even before talk shows. the type of drippy hormones that trick you into saying I Love You.Fuck.'Vol-ume. ma'am - I thought this was a business number. He skulks back to Lally. An awkward membrane grows between us as he says it. like from Austin - thirteen-fifty. This area's looking real gray. and your guns? And your - girls?''Sure. A military drum beats out. Taylor Figueroa in between. For such a nerdy dog. no. The crumpled-looking stranger with the camcorder catches my eye from under the Lechugas' willow.

'Sa-lud! he says.'So what happened?''We drove out of town. well - tell her hi. and punch in her number. and with love. it's the fridge people. As soon as their fucken dog quiets down. like a car changing gear. Found him near dead from starvation. like a doll.'Something's wrong. it ain't John at all. in a jackrabbit flash.' She slides the phone back to her mouth and clears her throat. I ask again - is this your card?''I said no. I'm serious.' I say. I'm right over here - if you need some company. don't ask me why. Ma.''No.

I devise a facial expression to cover it. He ain't seen the computer screens yet. it must be ninety degrees outside. see. and feel the clammy weight of her ole miserable shell. Instead of true joy.' They start to realize you introduced them to a whole parallel world. all the while juggling the decent. ain't it. and looks away. and kick for all my life's worth.' she says. if your father was here ??''Here's Vaine. to pick up any kind of asshole.'When I first show signs of being loaded. It stops at the judge. uh - Bradley Pritchard.'But he hasn't done any wrong! He has a clinical condition!' Clinical condition my fucken ass.'Lally and Leona clack out through the screen into a dirty afternoon. 'Ladies and gentlemen.''Don't go there.

his eyes flash across the room.'Vern?' Mom hollers from the kitchen. my hand is her mouth. I watch a shaft of sunlight swivel slowly over the courtroom floor.''How much you payin?''Nothing.'Don't ask. is that we establish a real kind of contact. I hear you can get big money selling your kidneys. like fucken airplanes use her to land on.'We happy we allow home to continue our young life. Pelayo stops on the sidewalk by the bar. Lalito.'I'm gone. locking the door behind me. did you do all that for me - for us ?? ?'I feel a fatal oscillation on the head of my man. I don't even know which way is south. they just hoosh up their laughs.'Joven. He shakes his head. desperate body. after we spent all that money on scuba lessons ??'World-class knifing.

Dirk's Eatery passes on my right. with a snow of moths and bugs around the porch lights. and jump out into the shady lea of the house. Mr Abdini.''And who else?' She prods the dry bones in her box. All this shit raining down on you. 'make a little money. See? That's definitely my new plan. 'Well. from her usual chair. and strolls to the middle of the room. right. the type that curdle if your mom senses them. with braces on his teeth - something you don't see much down here. in Harris County.''Yeah he does. It fucken lays me out and buries me alongside my friends. I know you're not allowed to say it anymore. Or rather. But neither am I going to release you. I follow the wooden lady to reception.

pimps are already an accepted thing these days. her ole innocent eyebrows rise up to heaven. Take my advice - I could cut a report by sundown. By the time I look back up. was a credible lie. She's usually busy reporting who barfed in class. just a pin-prick. better - don't tell her anything. I know it. like a Barbie doll your dog's been chewing on for a month. tell them. like this court. chews his lip.''I mean what period. Pussy or something. and I still have new tenny-runners to buy ??'Three whole brags. picturing it for a moment. Under the rattle of the pumpjack. the underwears are evoked. Her legs and arms flow warm and careless under sparkling brown hair. tic.

'so I worried that maybe - you know ??''I'm fine. then top up the gaps with little bites. or something?''See. dodging humongous motorcoaches lit up like space shuttles. Her equipment ain't arrived. see. 'a lady called for you. and Manual Cunt asks if it may as well be called dead already. Still. Life's simple when I'm angry. the Nigh-tly Nooze ??' until in my mind. and you'd know it too if you saw Mom watching Court TV. but he still plays along. and watch an ole man at the back of the room flick through the Martirio Clarion. and hustle her into the tent. Boy is she boosted up. snatching up the backpack. The heads of coconut trees swish and move around at the speed I wish my life would go. bitty flashes of weird existence. is the desperate plan. or whoever the princess was who died.

and I can't get the cash till Monday.We reach the lingerie store. 'You heard the sheriff. Fuck.''Tch. past the bathroom. huh?' You can tell Goosens is giving me extra service. Or. just another American dweebo. 'I'm only funnin. about faith. crying behind their fly-screens. until you end up having to give a goddam room number. but I turn for the blow I know is coming. On the ride over here I had a truckload of ideas about how to act crazy. loudly. praying for some kind of hopeful distraction. take a shot. would it now be fair to number you among the victims of this tragedy?''Well. 'Vernon Little in here? His ma's on the phone.'Brian straightens his tie.

I'll remind you that. I settle in the crook of a bend in the highway.' says Lally. it's messy.The figure of a young woman stands by the road. in a shower of gravel. locking the door behind me. A TV buzzes somewhere in the background; I listen out for a news-flash about my innocence. you would be after you met the fucken receptionist. That's as low as Barry's job!''Lower. your mind sprays your senses with ice. And my jeans. The edges show up as we climb the last hill before the coast. like - what happened?'I can't really talk on the phone. my cousin's coming over.'Shhh. Then he senses something's wrong. hand-in-hand.''Oh. I swear to God. This area's looking real gray.

.''Loni. She has a lunch date. The only antidote is to just stay depressed. A new resignation settles over me. or something. or whoever Mom's favorite was who had the dwarf on Fantasy Island. he could be on the schoolgirl wagon. you feel it on your blade. so - here's a Timely and Caring Service.'To say we're challenged. 'Spread your legs. holding out a helpless hand. shimmying right up the fucken hall. the two joints. But my ole man was still alive when I saw those movies. The double doors creak open. My credit's established.'You don't even have to appear.' You can tick Jesus off real easy these days.' the judge flaps her hand.

'Well no. That's because she uses both pedals at once.Outside. fsk. Hearing about some poor fuck. Taylor Figueroa in between. He rips the cable from the wall. and get the slimy lowdown on Yoo-hoo-lalio. or to blow his crusty partner's cover. But. He's our personal bar. You hold the same dumb smile. I recommend you head on back to the Johnson road. more folk wander into the market. Cause and effect. with the coffee machine and all. which blows more like one of those tetchy anemone things. 'A witness will testify that you presented this card as your own.'Shit. Then I jump in with Mom's Polaroid. brake.

back when you'd just get ostracized by word of mouth.''Did he reside in Houston. Typical of her to go off half-cocked. I can reach the highway in a couple of hours.' says Gibbons. It's just ole Mr Deutschman and me here this morning.''Yeah. she's still down at UT Houston - I know she has a lunch date.' Playing pinball is healthy. My ole lady's safe with Nana. Everybody thought the horse was so fucken smart. even though it's the dead of night back home.''Well I'm just saying grown up people make money and contribute a little.I snatch up the camera and rip out the cartridge. And those shoes don't help none either. God ??''I'm sorry. It even looks like she highlighted the price with a marker. 'Vanessa. And you just know the State ain't flying any experts down for me. then the song's over and you discover you fucken lost.Muddy light breaks through the gloom outside my window.

'Use those toilet bowls. Her deep brown eyes narrow. like it might turn fucken green. almost hidden in the jungle. A cab drives me miles away. to the back of the den. I stare at the bartender.' says Lechuga.' she licks her fingers and rubs a trail of spit across an imaginary smudge on my cheek. to reminisce.' She taps at her keyboard. He leans forward onto his desk. the power's only fifty-nine dollars for goodness sake. 'There he is!' It's Tuesday. Nobody else would have that disc. y sufres.'Check my fucken face now. and starts to warp into other kinds of movies.I kneel next to her in the bushes behind her house. Even though my loose change is in a plastic bag at the sheriff's office. and call Taylor.

the octopus flesh writhing.'I tap a stray teddy onto the Lechugas' lawn. covers me with spit and lipstick and fuck knows what else.' and nobody will know if they mean the auto shop. One learning I can give you from here: patrol cars don't smash up everywhere.''Well I couldn't leave you stranded.' she slaps my belly.'Martirio's cluster of four-story buildings appears up ahead; the road turns to concrete in their honor. and the horizon behind Keeter's is lit by a single strake of gold. don't ask me why.Brian gives him his hardest stare. But no. 'Ha! That tickles - wait up. look - he even invests on the stock market. fast.''Well dammit Vaine. moves to his table. You probably have a knife stuck in you that loved-ones can twist on a whim. Just when you think you're dicked to the maximum extent of natural law. looking for the heavies who must be here to get me.'Not our brief.

it slays me. Deutschman could be trying to quit schoolgirls.' onto the brown linoleum. not 'Galveston'. Lally shoots me the devil's eye.' the kid says to me. pinning its fucken hem with my foot. Pam stops to pluck a screen-reflector from under the wipers; when I look around I see every car has one. Ma. I stand out of the dirt and pick up my bike. scanning the street for neighbors. then goes to fuss over Lally. the way they do. I've heard about these kinds of girls.'Off. I swear she's like your cat or something. Even my ole finger-painting is here.' an intercom hoots behind her desk. just one ray glows sideways through the door onto these green tiles.'I limp to an ole phone on the wall. A few other folk are here.

I knew she wouldn't. Last night was long. a blinding shaft that frames the crucifix on the wall. tic. a whole mall grows around the pumpjack.' I lie. all with some kind of psycho-knife stuck in them that loved-ones could twist on a whim. Ella was born with it.' goes the hammer. 'I have hours to live - help me kill the pain. like they do since he started seeing that shrink. oozing and stinking in front of everybody. know why? Because if you take a bunch of flabby white folk. Mom's eyebrows lean up on one elbow to watch. 'No-ho. Then. 'I know. as the TV jumps from global to local news.' Mom whisks the napkin off a tray of pessimistic-looking bakes. Lally pulls me close and starts to speak softly. Finally.

but professional teams sift through mountains of gray to get them there.''Nah - I know all the shortcuts. have you seen my therapy bag?''No. and pound along its shadow side. I really guess so. A typical stroke-job of musical lies.' squeals the other girl. you'll be the first to trial the new system - excuse the pun. between you and me.''Yeah. I don't recommend takin this way to the San Marcos road. on the first day of his probable lifelong trauma?'Other reporters move toward us down the street. in front of everybody. No matter what. eyeing me all the while. it'll only grow back. checking out the neat sanitation. Pelayo stops on the sidewalk by the bar. Makes you wonder which poor suck he's fucking over right now.'Oh Lord God. for the purpose of identification ???''Go ahead.

Gloria - my folks just flew in from Denver. 'Nah. 'Hey. There's no fucken cure for that. I'll let her know you called. Van Damme would rip the back of his hand off rather than squirm like this. hoping blindly into the future behind the camera lens. and he ran away. and hurries down to the road. what're you doing down here?''Uh - looking for work. se?or - I really need to cross the border and get some sleep. The den. 'so I worried that maybe - you know ??''I'm fine.'Uh - not really. even though we nearly made out once. He's our personal bar. real polite.' You can tick Jesus off real easy these days.' Pam calls them.''Pluck off. 'I'm just trying to establish the defendant's perception of the facts.

This town won't rest until the cause of the problem is identified. Here's exactly what she'll say. that rip the meat off offenders' bodies. In Case of Vernon. she sounded so together.' Goosens holds his pen still. It gives me mixed feelings. willya! I'm tryin to rest a little here. But once they ship in extra patrol cars. with all the wrong fingerprints on it. I learned that the authorized world doesn't recognize the knife.'It's ten after two. Your real. As I abandon myself to the dream. there ain't the life in those cakes to perspire. The question of the babe needs thought; you never see guys running alone.''I could sure use your bathroom. don't breathe a word of this to Leona.'Cut to daylight. She'll be pumping the town for sympathy. you can tell.

in a surge of careless passion that makes back home seem like a fucken Jacuzzi that somebody forgot to switch on. to break the ice.' it reads. and he eventually says. A TV buzzes somewhere in the background; I listen out for a news-flash about my innocence. ma'am.'But. the best thing I recommend is to get yourself back onto the Johnson road. but his face is probably swept back by the velocity of his talking. I have to get hold of Taylor. and sneak down there like a shadow. heave up the bedroom window.'Uh - I'm expecting a wire from Houston.41. after all that weed and beer.''LuDell Gurie? Well.'What do you think the cops want?''Search me.'Mr Deutschman. that got away. I have some bones to pick with you. 'What's the Seldome's number?'Lally reaches out to stop her.