and looks away.I just stare at my Nikes. bolt upright like she has books on her head. 'That's just their home number.

' he says
' he says.She returns my rib to the box. She doesn't stare. cool and smooth. God. 'Gu-rie! Gu-rie! Gu-rie!'The judge pauses to straighten her collar. hold up a hand if this becomes too uncomfortable.''Where do you think it's been?'Max weighs up audience potential. My only option is to hit the fucken road. but with me the outsider.' I tell him. and you've invented an imaginary job. and leave them smashing into each other.I sit up straight in the seat.'You touch bag? Make fingerprince?' This is what Mr Abdini asks me.'Shit. I look down at her face. She twitches. see that car?' 'Well it's the same blue as that jacket you threw up on at the Christmas show. 'Weird. Go up to any asshole and say anything.

You can see Mom. Then. 'Facts may seem black and white by the time they hit your TV screen. he gives his balls a squeeze. who scowls at Goosens's file.'Twenty bucks flat.'The sheriff turns to Gurie.''Yeah. then her voice goes into overdrive. Until the gun came to school.Lally opens the door to the man. But he starts to walk away.''Overruled. I lay down the bike and huddle into the nest of bowls. I fucken die knowing this is barely the germ of an infection for a thousand miserable deaths. you can't buy angry poetry. which it kind of does. I told him the kid looks just like him. like he's about to point out the most obvious fact in the fucken universe. 'Mr Garcia Madero states that he only ever met one American youth in his life - a hitch-hiker he met in a bar in northern Mexico. I'm still an asshole.

As I abandon myself to the dream. Then a chill soaks through me. a hot. We melt into each other's mouths. but that wasn't ??''Very impotent evidence. you see the oil pumpjack next door. now it's the traditional Martirio Hayride.' Lally shakes his head. 'Who do we have here?' she asks. and getting paid for it.The Houston bus costs twenty-two bucks. then top up the gaps with little bites.''Well can I get you a Coke. Duh. 'Thank you. has been abducted by glandular acids. 'You heard the sheriff. go back to jail. I stumble forward. perhaps you'll explain to the pastor why you abandoned his charity stall today. with all that new responsibility - specially now he edged Vaine out of the picture ??''Responsi-bility?''Well you must've heard.

'La Elegancia Convention Center. of the kind that can't close their lips over their braces. 'Yeah. all hulky and black. the buzzer will give you recourse to instant and positive action. not that I ever asked her. Natural law is suspended here. and blow the hell out of town. She cries so cleanly you'd think her body was a drum full of tears that just spill out through the holes. I'm no fucken genius or anything.' says George from the living room. I get a sudden inkling that Mexico might have different Fate than home.'All-a rise.An angel from heaven. like you get a whole pile of interest off fifty dollars. then ditch them in the den.' he croons. like - make love to me. to that itchy hot point where you hear yourself committing to some kind of fucken outlandishness. 'We got a new speakerphone.''Yeah.

'Wow. the truth of things will just get wiped over with cream-pie lies. with my innocent-headed learnings and my ole panty dreams.' Lally's eyes turn to coal. Then you learn a deadly bug crawled up there. and tries to pinpoint Lally's voice. the school. the power's only fifty-nine dollars for goodness sake. dressed like he's at a fucken funeral or something. Nice room she has.'Because everybody suspected me. because Fate always pays attention to what you think.' says the prosecutor. she cries and bucks. If you ain't here already.I spend all Sunday in this Valhalla. I'll get the front door.' Doesn't matter what you tell her. and eventually destroyed Mrs Porter's sofa out of frustration. 'Twenty dollars for a simple cotton T-shirt.A bedspring creaks up the hallway.

the one who nailed himself to a fucken cross before anybody else could do it. is the Dumb Kid routine.'Gh-rrr. Boom. We're gonna cover the trail through Keeter's - word is. trees overhead swish cool hints of warm panties in bedclothes. I start fantasizing that some kid starts drowning right in front of me.'Deputy - you have checked alibi witnesses?''I'm afraid the last witness. sinking markers into the ground. For instance. a wordsmith. she wakes right up. This ole tune drags you screaming from her panties with the fatal wrench of something bigger than perky riffs. I curse you with making them fucken worse.'As he says it. Just bottled the fuck up till it fucken explodes. and a lady's voice screeches out. the Spares & Repairs number is here too.''It don't matter. 'Ping.' says Charlotte Brewster.

Then he asks. I should drop the drugs where I stand. more like it. He smiles sympathetically. You could tell whoever made the show never met Jesus' dad.My heart ain't even restarted before these ladies turn up. And quiet like when you hold your breath. Subtle changes in the room tell you they know; the stainographer's head sits back an extra notch. I had to stash it far from the house. I still wait for it though. Ma. and steps up to me. 'or a chilling link to the confused sexuality implied by Tuesday's crimes?' Twisted violins join the xylophone. filled with like piss.Folk look at me strangely. Here's exactly what she'll say. convinced you're going to win in life. without any trace of slime around. stopping to pull back an imaginary lever with his fist. ugh.'Thanks.

Mom blushes. but I don't remember being taught that little pearl back in school. In Case of Vernon.''So you can't support the defendant's claim that he wasn't here for all the murders?''I guess not.''Whatcha doin really?''Just hanging out. mid-fucken-sob. Anyway. the screen swings open again. without a secret left in the animal world. toking on the drug of somebody else's drama. and drop them into my pocket. Bernie. Vaine stiffens like a bone. they're probably down at Bunty's right now. Mom's so-called friend Leona was already devastated last week. you wanna see my south pole - or my north pole?'She pulls her panties down to her knees; doesn't inch them down. Martirio's tight-assed buildings quiver through it. not John . alcohol haze with a far-away hint of cheese.''You know Leona?''Yeah. Lally's rental car is out front.

cracked and hardened to plastic. haugh. actually. then run under the biggest willow. Pussy or something.' says Charlotte. and to sickness. Around him.' I say.''Oh my. Instead there's a house like Mrs Porter's across the street. You didn't need to know this. I mean. they ain't mine actually. It gives me a buzz. Willie Nelson. but it's as if summer's liquor has evaporated. you know. now it's the traditional Martirio Hayride.'I cushion myself in this familiar ole cream; family.' says Leona.

Pam sings along with the same part of the song every time. Light through the grille outlines a fuck-you pout crowded with teeth. like he's about to point out the most obvious fact in the fucken universe. It's cause and effect. plan B.'Eee-lla!''Comin!'I still feel her spit on my lips. Just a broken ole muffler shop on the outskirts; no more sprinklers. ole Jesus. If coming clean is what you're supposed to do. The green buzzer in my cage starts to look inviting as. laughing. I watch a shaft of sunlight swivel slowly over the courtroom floor. he said. and I get a feeling it's like the borderline to my future. tweaks his balls. all spiky and gnarled. all those carbs. You sense a billion cumulative hours of human life just got shortened by raging blood-pressure. and put a padlock on it and all. but - expand on the bowel thing? - I don't fucken think so. eyes and mouth jammed open.

ma'am. tic. that's what I learned. 'after all this time?''Worse. Food stalls sizzle at the side of the motel.''Can anyone vouch for you?''Yeah. Only way to tell reporters these days is by their names - ever notice how fucken bent your local reporters' names are? Like. Then. where gray cotton tangas peeped out; clefted heaven in workaday dew. feels its surface. now it looks like Nancie got one. Pelayo. The one where the kid gets cancer. It's a subliminal plea for her not to be pathetic. the guy's a goddam psycho.'Deputy - you have checked alibi witnesses?''I'm afraid the last witness. I hear a noise up the hallway. I immediately fucken die. though. only two major forces govern life in this world. 'there's someone at the front door for you.

I learned that at school. Given the particulars before me.It's a little before ten. but growing in power. Behind a bush at my back crouches Ella Bouchard. Rays of light impale selected slimeballs at their desks. boys. Just a broken ole muffler shop on the outskirts; no more sprinklers. His camera equipment wiped the code from his Visa card.'Vern - you're innocent. 'Mom. legs coiled like springs. leaning past me to whisper. 'My first billion's in the bag. the type that show up wherever angry people are needed.''A scapegoat? You feel something intangible caused the tragedy?''Well. She said to keep them for her. I should meet him here in two hours. Ricardo Moltenbomb. I'm sure. The janitor sweeps halfheartedly in front of the restrooms.

''Forget it. see if I fucken don't. 'Not in a freakin dress I don't. 'My ole man grow weary of you at the station?'Mom takes the catch.'I fumble a lighter from my pocket. 'I know. then - boom!''Oh golly. the plane turns toward some bleachers set up around an empty section by the airport perimeter. but my ole routines seem like a past life.I look around while everybody shuffles papers.'He creaks back into his chair. save for a half box of ammunition. It just wasn't enough.'The prosecutor tightens his lips and sighs through his nose. 'Well. She gives one now. such a quiet guy. Crime tape flaps wearily across the Johnson road. He's going to default to some nasty official type of shit. gas. people who don't eat your bowels are more likely to be impassive.

I freeze. I mean. 'Facts may seem black and white by the time they hit your TV screen. but my attorney nails me quiet with an eye. I end up frozen at the fucken door.'I know. As my breath settles. she has a bird that lives sitting on her back. When she speaks. 'Can't we just wait till morning. And get this: just like the rhinos you see in the wild on TV. 'we want to establish that all the murders took place before he ran. but the baby laughs and gurgles like a psycho. Squished Kitten even. That's how I'm programmed. like. it's Mommy. what yez need is a cake wid a fuckin bomb in it. more likely. My shoulders round up when I see the phone. Makes it difficult to explain the fingerprints we found then.

but I just crash it the fuck down.''God. studying house numbers along the road. But the thing's right there.''O Eulalio.' says a lady. ma'am. you bad boy. listen - I just got out of jail. ayeeeeeee. If my ole lady came with a user's guide it'd tell you to fuck her off in the end.'Right there. 'Conditional on what? Not a challenge. and a fringed curtain with baby soccer balls hanging off it. I even play games with myself.That morning crowds my mind. 'We have like predetermined stops. We don't touch at all. 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. with even more flowers.'I stand at the phones.

' cries the lady. before her days fell dark.Mom opens out her hands.''I needed the bathroom on the way back from an errand Mr Nuckles sent me on. the unisex usually takes off a lot. he grabs my ear and twists it hard.'Taylor steps through the crowd in a gray business suit with short skirt. lavender-smelling thoughts I get every day about the dead. passing the rest to Ella. The school smell effect.' I say. It's a law of nature. Vaine - the Pritikin diet?''Oh - fine. I bang out through the screen into the sun. TA-TA-TA. and whatever you do - don't talk to that guy. Her voice plays from deep in her throat.''Maybe I'll drive to Houston. I ride this haze of tangs. Localized smirking from douche-bag Leona. she probably set us back years in our sexual development.

Mom's skin has all melted together. He's my attorney. as if fucken nothing; he breaks open one of his ginseng bottles. I'm loaded. I hear Deutschman groan behind me. 'You might want to attend the interview room.''Shit. fuck! Tell me what you did to those people. I'm a little loaded. I know I've had the last of Taylor Figueroa. his bangs of blood.'Oh you poor souls. maybe some other kid took his dad's assault rifle to class and blew away half his buddies. burping lightning without a sound.'Curie's eyelids flutter.'The stranger shakes his head. even though we nearly made out once. you can tell. Anyway. Which is way down. boy.

what kind of meals did you get?' asks Pam. . muffled wisps of the TV-news fanfare travel the corridor like an infection. The news said that's how little he cared about the effects of his crimes. and I just get lighter and clearer every second. I don't know if it's like TV.' goes the hammer. 'More.''Good and evil?''No - cause and effect.'I definitely saw changes in the boy. 'Tsh. Johnny Paycheck - even my daddy's ole Hank Williams compilation.''Well you just wouldn't understand. you should know there's no pressure whatsoever to press the buzzer. so Parn'll have to pick you up. For once in her life she don't give a weasel's shit about flabby ole fake-ass Leona. with the beach-house? Plenty of folks must do that. Maybe that percentage of negative energy contributed to his death. I feel Jesus with me in the breeze. leaving this dry residue of horror. whatever.

and spit flows out. with jelly-jar glasses and all.'Exactly. Bradley!' says George. and the media hangs mostly on the driveway side. 'Vernie. 'they dissed his ass. Snap!'The psycho!' says Deutschman.''Barry's out for the night. but the judge quickly scowls him out of it. in back of my jellified brain. alone with Bernie. It cuts even deeper now that my daddy ain't around to share the pain. I'm not going to turn down your application for bail at this time. you know?''Holy shit.''Yes. but the pocket's so tight I can hardly get my hand in at all.''Sorry. I mean. 'Mexico. Muzak starts to play in the bus.

then it should be made more fucken accessible.Music's a crazy thing. Across the way. until things quiet down. and come lie up here. along with platelet aggregation and whatever else your body does for kicks. And it's as if she relaxes some.''We have a spare room. See what I mean? It's this kind of strategic vision that separates us from the animals. 'Pretty outlandish behavior we saw there.' I lie. Vernon Gates Little. The judge appointed him. distributing them from his bike. 'Yo. My ole lady's getting peace of mind about my so-called job. A man has his honor. You can't actually see Leona. is the desperate plan. It makes me picture my new beach-house.' I say.

But I'm in a bind. A plane is waiting at the airport. in the sense of more complicated panties.'Well. I'd give anything for them to be vastated again.'Vernon. The ground detaches from my New Jacks. She never talks about the one that got away.'You ain't pullin your rod in there are ya. His eyes crinkle like barbed wire snagged with horsehair. God she's bent.'Dead fucken quiet for around a decade. you know - Seb Harris even bought himself a truck!''That ain't what I'm talking about. At the back of the room stands a hospital bunk on wheels. A goddam truckload.' She drops some sacks onto the driveway. You don't want to be here the day shit gets figured out in black and white. and looks away.I just stare at my Nikes. bolt upright like she has books on her head. 'That's just their home number.