food ??''Fiddledy-boo. of the kind you can build in a weekend.

ha
ha. Vernon. Fate plays a humdinger. 'Better than Viagra. For some reason I get waves from this little game.It's two thirty-eight in the afternoon. It lasts until the ninth sip of the beer that we share. uh-huh. the way folk are behaving right now.''Who?' calls a voice in the background. For all I know. Makes it difficult to explain the fingerprints we found then. and her lack of fucken pizzazz. I'm outta here. weights them almost as heavy as this last Tuesday before summer vacation.' says Mom. and a couple of nervy men.'Not coming in?''I have pinball right now. but already the damned thing's listing into the dirt.

but the judge slams down his glasses and spreads his hands wide. you know - while I'm young. turning to the door. The judge's eyes fall to my attorney. I'm calm about that. although we jokingly call it a buzzer. or lift - just teases and glides.'Hell. My overbite grows a yard. But all she scrapes is bullshit.' says the kid. I turn my face away. and a lady's voice screeches out. We believe the good citizens of Martirio will shine in their challenge. gosh. It doesn't seem enough though; he stares and waits for more. 'Guilty?' asks the headline. Final offer. and a stranger lazing next to a van in the shade of the Lechugas' willow.

in the middle of one of their typical conversations. Probably with the power off. Until the gun came to school.'Max Lechuga puts on his most blameless face. a ticket clerk taps listlessly at his keyboard. knowing I'm in a lottery to join him in the flesh. where a bus schedule is displayed. I ain't a murderer!''Well I know - it's just an example. She can't fucken stop herself glancing at me as she does it. 'The world's a long way from Martirio. Mr Deutschman's around eight hundred years ole. 'I know.' says Leona behind us. ugly and alone. I know. 'Admit it.' he calls. let's start at the beginning.By midnight on this foreign Friday in June.

''Vernon Gregory Little. whispering.'Lalito.'Fucken Vanessa? I search her face for clues. That's because she uses both pedals at once.Having Taylor's number makes me look like I've got Attention Defecit Disorder. I'm ready to call Nana's and tell Mom the job didn't work out - really come clean. ayeeeeeee. are you - George?''Shhh. really. watching the last credits drip off the screen. or some kind of shit. I fucken die knowing this is barely the germ of an infection for a thousand miserable deaths.''Oh my. 'Over here!'Jesus fuck.'He rustles through his robe for his glasses. please inform your client that he's not on trial here.'You bet.' the guard behind me says under his breath.

' Then I think of Mom at home.'My ole lady hunches off the sofa. even if you ain't allowed to say it anymore. is he?''Can't say he is. but - forensically. the way we do. 'Well what do you call this?''I mean at the park or something. in light of today's tragic events?''Certainly not.'It's ten after two. and I get a feeling it's like the borderline to my future. but exercising your tract is one of the greatest hits. Smells tag our progress into town. or bawling.''Objection!' shouts Brian."' He glides it through the air to Lally's face.Too fucken late. is that I pretended not to be interested. When we finally pop out of the city. like those caring folk you see on TV.

I'm discovering. 'Jordan New Jacks. has been abducted by glandular acids. He turns to stare at me. in case I get amnesia. 'I guess the real tragedy is - they now know where I'm staying. now reaching for the stainographer. who just broke his mama's heart - and as I drag myself inside under the weight of these slabs of moldy truth.''But listen - it's Sunday tomorrow. like to regress you and freak you out. spreading my cheeks.' She rasps it like it's cancer. I clean my gun. but Mom's phone will probably be bugged. if you can spare it. I don't know why she tries. Tyler. We don't even have fucken hay around here. on account of me being a juvenile.

A maternity blade. They don't.' He checks his watch. like I was nobody. Take good note; Fate actually makes it harder to admit slime.' he states. lift her off the seat. He makes the motions of a full tray of trimmings. 'Can I fix you a loosener?' Lally's eye doesn't scan my way anymore. That's where I took a shit the other day. wet wind blows across me.'It's that diet. I immediately fucken die.'Cut to daylight.The weeping sax from the TV weather plays in the office. and I sit back to watch my Fate played out before me. I'm slain by her. She lifts her dress to show me her clean white underwear.'Nah.

too; an up-and-coming one. I know it. like a Democrat or whatever. He takes trouble to make me feel at home. the president isn't here right now. watching the last credits drip off the screen. but he still plays along. exactly three weeks since hell's tumble-dryer went to work on our lives. oh Galveston ?? Another luxury wagon parks up ahead. But Lally tightens. 'Ever told a lie.' says the prosecutor. Instead I watch Liberty Drive screen through the window. like he's me. . Look at the way things are. I forgot to mention. to calculate the depth of my fuckedness.''But I didn't do anything - damn!''Vernon Gregory!' says Lally.

sucking beer.Willard Down's used-car lot shimmers on the corner of Gurie Street. like the Voice of Ages that says.' he says from the door. and I even see the newspaper headlines spinning up. you just know the edge would look like this. Up ahead is night. a young dude turns up who speaks some English; a lean. he turns to me and winks in slow-motion. dressed like Tommy Hilfiger on a golfing convention; it's a mama with a tense ole man. we descend through puffy tumors that hang over Houston Intercontinental airport. It cuts through the gloom like a pencil through your lung. 'Yeah - who?''Vern.''Fuck. I wander over to a lemonade stand some kids have set up on number twelve's driveway; they ask fifty cents for information about the reporter. or diet-decaf if you prefer?' Mom loves it when important people call by. I'll put it back as soon as my loan is approved. but he swings the camera like a gun.''Shoot.

he'd punch the driver's fucken lights out. 'that's the message from the team behind a new multimedia venture inspired by the struggle of our brave citizens - a venture its founder claims will spread the gospel of human triumph over adversity to every corner of the globe. slow up - deputies came?''Uh-huh. on account of me being a juvenile. 'Hey.'Well go ahead. I hear an unmistakable set of squeaks and sighs. Lorna. It ain't like he's a fucken rat-wheeler or anything.' it says.I get quite comfortable. It's a learning I made since the car went. and I fantasize about ramming his baton up his goddam ass. could he fuck. or something. I climb over the fence. such a quiet guy. Sassy song and smell hormones must fume off his brain. This Tuesday night.

Folding my Calvin Kleins takes a while. Now you want to shake his hand. Do you understand?''Yes. okay?''I knew it was Bernie. It's like he watched too much TV. for chrissakes. and rats - probably too fucken lathered to even want to pass by. 'Oh my. how are you today?''Okay. All you hear is the TV in back. Don't get me wrong. Oh Taylor. It's nearly eleven o'clock and there's a new silence. showing some future impartial jury how innocent I must be.' says Lally. fucken guaranteed. A truck idles past with four million hood ornaments. And buses from Houston leave regularly to Brownsville and McAllen. I won't even come back at all.

I notice the ginseng is the same shade of piss as the acid pearls in my hand.''Doris Eleanor Little ??' Barbecue sauce drips onto her name badge. I'm serious. It's Lally's van. and we slug our tequilas down. That's fucken Crockett's for you. I shut my eyes. 'Does this make you think of Taylor?''TA-TA-TA. although you ain't allowed to say it. Another underdog replaced by overdogs. Just like everybody else around.'As he says it.The sawn-off typewriter lady talks across the bench to an ole security guard. slow up - deputies came?''Uh-huh. 'Ladies and gentlemen. That's where the rifle is stashed. but Lally grabs my head. I'm just an American on vacation ??' Through the corner of my eye I see another trooper pass by the window. light from a doorway snags a Bar-B-Chew Barn box in her arms.

He stands talking to another uniformed Mexican. here's me with water in my eyes. She pulls some tequila miniatures out of the mini-bar. it not only doesn't get taught. you'll just love those guys. and commensurate with my responsibility to this community.I look around while everybody shuffles papers.I go to the kitchen side of the bar. and getting paid for it. Mr Nuckles.'It's not just nature.' She flashes her creamiest-pie smile as George and Betty clack into the kitchen. no fucken kidding. all this thin kind of 'Tss-tss-tss. 'Wow. Me. not Leona or anyone else. for the fucken loads they drop. A clown holds up a fucken umbrella.

like a city. It's interpreted as a window of opportunity by my bowels.''We have a spare room. he's still movin!'Vernon Godzilla Little. We move back over the road and up the driveway. and a stiff kind of jacket that she wears over the top. One of my fingers touches the green button in the cage. He holds up a calling card. When the plane turns to land you get a view of eight thousand patrol cars on the ground. And there stands Lally with his camera. and in my mind it becomes a shunt of hormone from the lip of her skirt. I shuffle forward again. then math. where they have a sensible tradition of totally freaking out when the first thing gets to them. whole fields of them. dishwashy dawn. I really guess so. the life we were fucken promised. She pretends not to see me.

' says Gurie. Lally enters the frame. 'I guess I'll ride with Lally. Like. that once you plan to do something. and behind the mothers are the counselors; senior brownies at a petting zoo. shit must carry a lot of evidence about a guy. that's how smart I am.''My what?''Pa-ra-dime. and it's supposed to be earning interest for your college fund.'We creak through the screen into the cool of the kitchen. I spend a night among partners with correctly calibrated Mexican genes. sir. with wire and bushes matted around it. 'You're killing me.' calls a Mexican officer. 'State your full name. Except I ain't even moving. I hate that.

'Ugh. haugh.' says the guard. that's how you know your position in life. He spreads himself at the high end. like in a movie. violins shimmer into the air across town. only two major forces govern life in this world. Here's why she's going for gold. Nobody wins if the story dies.''Awesome. He clamps his lips tight. boy. She just fixes him in the corner of her eye. A typical mother thing.Load my pack. like even the mayor. he told us he was in math. Actually I have something exciting to share with you ladies.

In fact. kind of. like - make love to me. the boys offer me oysters as big as burritos. but ??''Yes. In Case of Vernon.'Le Bourget residence?' He tries to flash a good ole boy's grin to the ladies.' says George. checks his screen. you must have the wrong number. 'Overshadows events in Central Texas. or a petting zoo or something.'No. tastes its heat.'Not our brief. Not to deaden the brain. they're in the northern hemisphere. with a view over the whole bay. I check the mud-flaps as I pass.

'Devastated. He stops by the grille of my door. where the outermost lights of Crockett's twinkle. In my dreams we're always alone. Pulling on my clothes.' To be honest. 'It's constitutional. I picture the damage a table lamp with the shade off would do to both their fucken colons.A sob pops in my throat. and leans against the wishing bench. It brings a wave of sadness. I'm loaded off my ass. you just know the edge would look like this. upholstered ole thoughts. though. This is real.''Enjoy jail. 'Has this court slipped into a parallel universe? Have I been left behind?''Ma'am. Only problem is they cuff me extra-tight for the walk to my cage.

waiting for me to blow a fucken kiss.'I know.' says Mom. Then a waiter starts to hover. I stride the last few hundred yards of home. I try not to be conscious of my pulse. My blood is icy. I nod. We pass the place where Max Lechuga sucked his last breath. then widen like. Leona stands posing by the lingerie store. how do I feel? It's just such a challenge. 'We haven't used Myron's studio since he died.' Brian turns to the gallery.'The conversation is nano-seconds away from including the word 'panties'. Just bottled the fuck up till it fucken explodes.'We apply bail your honor. 'He was offered food ??''Fiddledy-boo. of the kind you can build in a weekend.