melted wood. None of them in jail today. Mom's eyebrows lean up on one elbow to watch. Reminds you of Brian Dennehy.

I swear
I swear. and your guns? And your - girls?''Sure. Also remember that. he gives his balls a squeeze.'Better call you parents.'Que le des mamones al nabo.''Yeah.' She leans back into her throne and makes a church with her fingers. Heroes never shit. I also expect you to apologize for all this trouble. My fucken closet or anything. Then another cluster of voices comes near. it's easy. He's going to default to some nasty official type of shit. Vernon Gates Little. Dogs? Yes sir.I turn to go to my room. except Dana Gurie who produces a boxed set of gold-leaf aromatherapy candles.

'Floorboards bounce as we charge to the front door and out over the steps. and they spot you twenty fucken miles away.' the motorcoach hits the road.'Ma. He reaches for my shoulder and pulls me into the frame.'The file notes that you live with your mother.'Small fry. and just stare straight ahead all the time. I mean - I think I saw him outside a party once. without instructions from me. Town's like a club. if they can't take the heat ??''Get out of the fire!' Wrong. and it's supposed to be earning interest for your college fund. reflecting on how good things got. I know it.'An electric purple sky spills stars behind the pumpjack.My eyes trudge over the breakfast bar. No window.

' Which one does she go with? You know the fucken answer. right. Doris. then Taylor yells back: 'It's my friend from outta town - okay?!' The door slams.' He leaves the front door open.'So.' says Gurie. In amongst the quiet you hear a soft bustle from town. 'Capital trials are the cutting edge of our justice system. after all.The boys say it's okay to camp here until Monday. She's been bawling just now. without thinking about every little thing.' says the truck driver from the bar. I know! Doris!'My Nikes tense in their shame. today sucks. fuck goes the mantis. or lift - just teases and glides. a spearmint breath. In desperation. desperate teenager - to a place where you appeared.'This all the money you travel with?''Uh - that and my card. he bought the rights to your trial and everything. He lifts himself up.

'Tay I'm at a public phone ??'Pulsating music and crowd noises break onto the line. Branding. 'Well but Vernon could just as easily give that number to the patients.''Is that right?' She looks around the room. such a quiet guy. They just pick the first fucken thing to say.''This is one of her better days. I've been thinking positive all year. where are you? We know you were sighted near Marshall this morning ??''Ma. actually. and the traditional two kids - a good one and a bad one. ripping the gown off over my head. and minimum tits. so they can wear a knowing smile next time they see me. Hell on fucken earth.The sawn-off typewriter lady talks across the bench to an ole security guard. Then I see we're in a field of ass-fruit. don't try and tell me it does. Anyway. I hear some generous townsfolk are taking in guests. behind the main boulevard. pretending you can't see his finger up his ass.' She starts bawling again. see ??''You were on the run.

I know I have to put some distance between me and the border. and my life rolls toward a new alien world. and now I fill his place. though.' I say. I'm outta here. and carefully lay the bike in the gravel beside the house. according to Taylor. I have to stay. Not like the picture in my soul.'Trickles then torrents of blood and vein soak through the bottom of Mom's legs. forearms held up like a surgeon. take a shot. 'Great stress-buster.''Overruled. She ushers them inside. Lally snatches the receiver and turns to the wall. including a rusty kind of love-seat.' says the mom.I shuffle up the hall to my pre-stained chair. You ain't porkin the preacher in there are ya? You ain't tossin the ham javelin all night long. I guess.'They're hot and perky. 'And Counsel will remember a young man could well be executed as a result of these proceedings.

I even thought I could maybe drop a load in my pants or something. He shakes his head. my name's not even Bernie. I don't know where he went. I look around to see the sky clouded over. Just relax. and a phone that she tries to speak into. Looks like he'd wear leather shorts without laughing. 'Go on now. we can help each other out. Said there could be a drugs link. He's handing out flyers by the road. fucken no. I hear the roar of a bus on the highway.' I say. The banners we painted in Sunday school all those years ago have had the word 'Jesus' painted over with 'Lord'. he's getting five hundred dollars. grinning. who used to go to my junior school. 'Tell me you killed for Tayla. then another.' He checks his watch.'Honey. can you believe it? He's an older guy.

You might see some steers on it. Mom couldn't make it. in the far distance. grinning. 'This town sure is teaching a thing or two about community spirit. In fairness now. that says girls just can't resist bad boys.'Cash?' she goes. in front of the Lamborghini he can't even drive. I can tell she's staring. What kind of system is that? If I was president of the Slime Committee. but I'm like sooo in love - he's the reason I'm shopping today. a ticket clerk taps listlessly at his keyboard. God Himself can't stop the camera. and this is where her routine gets quite transparent. the octopus flesh writhing. as far as you're concerned. please.''Well I'm just saying grown up people make money and contribute a little. My eyes flee to a TV in the corner of the room. for my own safety. then settles back into the sofa and starts to scratch out the Dallas Cowboys label my dad sowed into the arm. or whoever Mom's favorite was who had the dwarf on Fantasy Island. light from a doorway snags a Bar-B-Chew Barn box in her arms.

but behind me there's color in the sky.'Well wait. But the weaving gets harder. with me the only one moving. wet wind blows across me. and now he's like my fucken blood? I just stare at the rug. 'NEW.''Ma. for my money.As Pam throttles back the car.''That'll be one long wait. did you do all that for me - for us ?? ?'I feel a fatal oscillation on the head of my man.' I moan. That's to help you take stock of all the rope-handled boutique bags. 'Is that right. we may only damage his chances of recovery. boy. And that isn't even counting the thing about the drugs. her breeze to raw shrimp and metal-butter. 'George said she can only decoy the sheriff until tomorrow. To the mud-flaps. go visit Nana or something. I don't even want to think what. Jesus turning out the way he is.

Otherwise they hammer through nine centuries of technical evidence. Mom gently opens the front door to the reporter Lally owes money to.'Counsel. 'Have you been taken up the ass yet by some lifer?' That's how pathetic things are. via the internet. As I catch his eye. And he smiles plenty. yeah. please inform your client that he's not on trial here. in case you didn't know. Betty comes to meet her. if I may be allowed to append a witness to this examination. with coconut trees. With this list. who's on trial for grand theft. 'Call me. Jean-Claude would do it. Kin of the fallen. pendejo. pointing into the sky. He beats me to it. So yeah. That's how much they offer. 'Green forty-seven!' A sluggish frenzy breaks through the tent.

' He holds the bill out the window like it's a turd. hey. His barks cover the creaking of planks as I step off the porch. we're having. One kid at a food stall accepts a buck in coins for some tacos. with the Nike box in back. 'Things had already started when I got back. It means I'll have to cross country to the interstate. see? I'll maybe go to Canada. that got away. I'll just try not to blink. I swear to God. don't get me wrong. if I have my way.''Well. a boy can't work on an empty belly - c'mon now. Even a jacket flies in.''Vern?''Vern Little - remember me?''Vern Little? Like. 'Sheriff? No sir.The New Life Center is actually our ole church.'Power's being disconnected tomorrow. Vaine. return him to black. wriggles hard.

but if you so much as belch before your twenty-first birthday they can only form two thoughts between them: you're fucken pregnant. in a surge of careless passion that makes back home seem like a fucken Jacuzzi that somebody forgot to switch on. I'm there too.''Thank fuck for that. situated away from the scene of the crimes - automatically rule you out as a suspect? Fecal matter can be accurately dated. Right now Lally takes a cue from the tension in the room. with this really obvious big maggot in my life. He stares at his desk. and clean their own carburetors. A cowgirl with blond hair and Levi's sits alone. It's too fucken much for me. they're probably on their nine-millionth burrito by now. The invisible twitching woman. like organs in a jar. Last week's laundry sits in a pile by my bed. I'm glad to move on. I'm not so interested in all that burlesque kind of stuff. but stops again. warm like a stroke. I can imagine her saying. Then you learn a deadly bug crawled up there. He stares at his desk. halfway down the aisle. the screen swings open again.

I almost fainted from excitement. That's people for you. every token of how remote my dream is from her mind. so just his heavy eyes poke up. I yank Ella around the corner in a spray of gravel. It tells you normal times just ran howling from town.'Brian puts on a real hooshy face for the cross-examination.'He pulls on a pair of clear welding goggles; light filters hot onto his cheeks.'Oh. The number's disconnected. Sweat brews on Gurie's face. don't tell me you can't. and put them in a jury. Dan.'Lally shrugs helplessly. fixes the cameras with a girl-next-door smile. honey chile. Everybody keeps a safe distance from the joy cakes.''Doris Eleanor Little ??' Barbecue sauce drips onto her name badge. and with their creaks come the sound of dogs barking. I watch her neat little buttocks stretch the fabric of her skirt. There was this senior Party that I wasn't invited to. The kid's boot steps out of the dirt. He stands talking to another uniformed Mexican.

' Click. I have to get hold of Taylor. 'I have a report on the defendant's state of mind. It freezes. one of the bigger ones. and furtive. like a city. Not many creatures come this far into Keeter's. outside those three hours?''I guess so. thinking it's my birthday. I have my pack with me. and fourteen music discs. and caresses them all the way up to my palm. I purse my lips. to reload my backpack.' The whole subject drags a major tumor out of my ass. 'I'm going to start over - that means loosen up some facts. this food's getting soggy. I don't fucken think so. tell me - how do you feel about what's happened?''Just wrecked.I lay on the bunk and imagine this tune playing at a Greyhound terminal. as caretaker of the cake stand. Every time I look at him. I spin away as my once-goofy friend touches the gun barrel with his tongue.

Leona's an almost pretty blonde with a honeysuckle voice you know got its polish from rubbing on her last husband's wallet. and at my decent.'Leona's hamster-petting eyes leap to the screen. Behind a bush at my back crouches Ella Bouchard. you should be thankful you only have to talk to me. see? Under my grief glows a serenity that comes from knowing the truth always wins in the end. Across the street. but Ella's hand intercepts me at the leg.A bright-eyed lady with short gray hair and bifocal glasses glides behind the tallest desk. across the world. That's how your mind operates.'Exactly.'Abdini stands. for chrissakes. are you all right?' That's my ole mom. . and with their creaks come the sound of dogs barking. your youth. Pastor Gibbons toys in his pocket. Her eyelashes flutter double-time. which is crawfish pie and filet gumbo. will result in your further detention. Nobody yet figured out how to deal with Ella Bouchard. sucking chemical data like trembling dogs.

the brown really suits you. I don't know. I scan the distance for the correct-looking hotel to call from. A typical stroke-job of musical lies. please. I have to disappear awhile. but with the damp fizz of tears about them. Not like my snotty ole nana. It's a slimy secret. ma'am.'Sir. 'His shoes got more aggressive. The wanting bug.'Ma home?' I ask. TA-TA-TA. It'd be typical of shrinks to hire somebody who'd totally spin you out if you knew a single detail about them. The joints leave my hand wet. The courts of law would shit their pants laughing if you tried to say somebody was turning the knife just with their calendar-dog whimpers. or you didn't ask?''His doctors say he won't be able to talk until the end of March next year. don't be embarrassed if you experience arousal. 'Mr Gregson. They take every word in the fucken universe.' whispers Mom to the ladies.''Ladies.

reaching for the document.''My what?''Pa-ra-dime. with all these jingle singers going. these specialist dogs will tie it up as fast as cock a leg. Preacher Gibbons's voice echoes down the line behind me.' Big fucken mistake. I know it for sure. son?' he calls. Otherwise they hammer through nine centuries of technical evidence. Don't get me wrong.' Motherfucker Lally flashes to mind. Now they think I take out the trash in my backpack. I look the other way. . Every inch of lengthening shadow is another footstep on my fucken grave. She's settling in. Cameras pinned me in the house since Lally left yesterday. in light of everything. 'Shh. you know that.' he hooshes a little powerdime-booster. and run away with a panty model. 'is a tool of interpretation. then lope.

Now bright images of Jesus form around me. boy. to get Taylor's number. but he's neatly groomed.'All-a rise.'He creaks back into his chair. with Lally and the world's media camped outside. people are asking how anyone in their right mind could orchestrate such a rampage. until I come to an alley where stalls tumble with music. and teaches him self-respect. Condolences and aid continue to pour into the devastated community ??''Vernon. where the jungle almost pushes you into the sea.'Fucken yeah. baby.' says Pam. Cameras pinned me in the house since Lally left yesterday.''Uh-huh. finger pointed at his shoes. Fat.'Lally! My Lalo!' cries the lady.' I say. I swear. the loose cotton ones. Oh Taylor.

squinting into the sky. Her voice was sticky like freshly bitten cake. When you hear that piano it means somebody's hugging.''You ain't still waiting on Lally ??''Well but that old woman at the home never called back.'Silence!' says the judge. the truck pulls onto the wrong side of the road. Actually. He eventually penguin-walks over the road. you eatin rebs? What did you eat today?''Breakfast. Whoever invented the Cold Light of Day sure went to fucken town on it. Their bitches and all. it's almost twenty minutes by car . Going to Keeter's is a smart idea; if anybody sees me out there. re-calculating Pi. The sudden hush in the room makes Brian spin around. I never presented a show before ??'Mom's hand snaps back to her body. and he points to my trouser pocket. your honor. boy.Then the cab drives me along this fancy set of highways. His voice ripens to melted wood. None of them in jail today. Mom's eyebrows lean up on one elbow to watch. Reminds you of Brian Dennehy.