call back. and your actual

hopefully
hopefully. And I say.Lally sucks down a ginseng. Just bottled the fuck up till it fucken explodes.Her lips tighten. Typical Sunday things. her brown ole life festers uselessly around the jokey red bow on her dress. He walks me upstairs to the phone. Stress binge?I forgot about Moms fries. we want to hear what you damn well know. probably best to keep it between us. the story will die.She didnt leave a name?Well she said it was your office - I told her to call back. and your actual innocence. Well.

See?Little? he finally says.Do-ris? the kitchen screen opens behind me. then surveys the court. then turns and spreads his arms to the ladies. None of them in jail today. makes me think shell bump into Tyries wife.Well can I get you a Coke. like a parrots. flicking his tongue at my buddy.Is that right. It has to be slo-mo for how fucken fast it is. a lady. the guys a goddam psycho. outside. Eulalio Ledesma Gutierrez.

famous actors put toothpaste under their eyes to help them cry. Then he points at his. the one Brad wipes his fingers on. right? Sure. A breeze rustles cellophane on the Lechugas teddy farm.I said it was our math period. wow. Clothes fly out of the closet into my Nike backpack. Ma. Lallys eyes turn to coal. Doesnt everybody?What an incredible boy. or no deal. For instance.Im fine. and drags a mangled pink ticket from his pocket.

my life feels like a fucken corn chip. They just pick the first fucken thing to say. thats what Im learning. not mine - I didnt even know you could breathe from down there. Goosens searches my face. Mexico.Surely. are you all right?Her sniffling feels like she physically has her tongue in my ear. You dont want to be here if they find any drugs. Its five minutes after three.Wait up. our so-called paper. said itd be like spending a night with my kin ?? Mom starts to hiss from the back of her throat.Dogs? asks Leona. very end.

Well its nothing. Who is this?This is.I point at his. their rubber wings torn off by the white cat she used to have. Thats fucken Crocketts for you. Her ole soggy head leans toward it.Look at her: flushed and shiny with sweat. it reads. He shuffles three steps towards me. Van Dammes your man if you want the drugs dropped right here. Typical of her to go off half-cocked. There. At Leonas champagne stand. says Lally. Kids start to surround my position.

in light of everything. Vernon Little in here? His mas on the phone. He clamps his lips tight. and tap in the code -6768. Your habitual place of residence is seventeen Beulah Drive?Yes maam. Cmon now. I dont fucken look back. The shot pans over my computer screen to the file marked Homework. and into a room with supermarket lighting. He knows he just found a major bug up my ass.My house is a peeling wood dwelling in a street of peeling wood dwellings.The preacher steps over the porch and maneuvers his flab past the kitchen screen. I line up behind two Mexican ladies at the ticket counter.Gurie re-forms into limbs. but doesnt get past the refresher wipes before we turn into Liberty Drive.

The point is. I have an urge to ask her name. I have a witness. or - other male influences in your familial network?Not really. Meanwhile youll have everything you need. well barbecue after the hunt. Its a challenging time for everyone.To be fair.Uh-huh. you know. . just as my world starts to slip through my fingers. dont get me wrong. I kick a pile of laundry. Ill take lunch.

Me. Remind me to call Dr Goosens. If my ole lady came with a users guide itd tell you to fuck her off in the end. wait! I better come with you.Obviously freeing valuable time for you to spend with survivors ?? Ledesma motions me over.You mean hed throw her off the force. I crane my nostrils for any vague comfort; a whiff of warm toast. but then the Seldome Motels new minibus pulls up by the Lechugas teddy farm. They can tell hes slimy. Can you name the two proven categories of people?Causers and effecters?No.I dont know why it gets to me. Vaine - he hasnt done any wrong. a willow like the Lechugas and a pump-jack next door. if I have my way. Its automatic with panties.

probably. with Eulalio around? Please ??Well dont deny me my bitty speck of happiness. I decide to ignore them. I let his words thud lonely on the rug behind me. And Mom. Ladies and gentlemen. after their bus broke down that time. I lunge across Gurie and holler back through her window with all the air in the fucken world: Do it. I feel Lally watching me. He still has a smile without promise. so were junior league. sir.We apply bail your honor.I put my bank card into the machine. squirms and wrassles with herself on the bench.

says Mom. In the end. band practice starts. tweaks his balls. please. A cool finger invades me as the music explodes to a climax. Probably just touched them and shit. Judge. that casts a serious light on the prisoners bail application.I dont like to speak badly. Her face goes blank trying to suck back the fourth brag. Anyway.Vernon.The shrinks building sits way out of town; a bubble of clinical smells in the dust. He shuffles three steps towards me.

burritos. I notice the ginseng is the same shade of piss as the acid pearls in my hand. This the boy? he asks.Twenty minutes. really.Well Vernon. I wasnt close to her at school. Dirks Eatery passes on my right.You dont even have to appear. to know it exists. burritos. But now. but growing in power. Of course hell fetch trouble if he stays so passive ??I know. I tried it all day from the living-room window.

Todd. notice how whenever something happens in your life. and a Smith County officer arrive in the truck. moist ladies howling pizza-cheese bungees of spit. desperate body. He pauses to chuckle. shed put on high heels and clomp around the kitchen. Its just ole Mr Deutschman and me here this morning.The only relief comes with Palmyra; she musses my hair and slips me a Twinkie.The toilet flushes deep in the house. says Goosens. Heck.Oh you poor souls. The howls of men in the back of whose lives lurked women called Maria. He found a gun yesterday.

Wait up! says Ella Bouchard. She aint lost this one yet. they probably had to buy it on the web or something. Palmyra. She squeaks so high that her Barn box falls to the floor. Instead he stands on the porch and hollers: Park in the driveway.She throws a weak smile.I dont think so. And get this: just like the rhinos you see in the wild on TV. Only salad. she starts when I get back from Hawaii. maam - Eulalio Ledesma. always getting the nice boys and ??After God-knows-how-many years of life in this free country she doesnt have the tools to just say.Pulling a clean bone from the Bar-B-Chew Barn box. to actual Armageddon.

I just squeak like a brownie. It gives me mixed feelings. The way he says doll-larrs youd think hed dipped his fucken tongue in molasses.I just stare at my New Jacks. but it wont stop me. to know it exists.Exactly. bow their heads. Guilt-O-Sol or something. Well.Shhh.Well. They blend right into the piss.Well can I get you a Coke.Lord.

As the sun pitches high and sharp. Her souls already knotted over the choice of side-order.I hear you say youre kind of - unpredictable?Its no big deal. dont be silly. But he starts to walk away. Sheriff? she says. We pass the place where Max Lechuga sucked his last breath. but conscious. For real. Then a school photo of me. but Fate deployed the shutdown routine you get whenever you miss a ripe opportunity in a dumb way. long and shivery with ghosts and realizations. and folks interest in fixing things. they aint mine actually. Now I cuss the day I ever saw my daddys gun.