her back fence and the shack next door. home is fucken crawling with Mexicans. like he swallowed a vibrator or something.' now my voice goes all small and stupid.

from those ole movies
from those ole movies. hunched over a wedge of pizza. And I can't say it's going too well. It rings again.Lally pushes a little spit around his mouth. and snuff your face up close. 'Nah. Like the world was California all of a sudden. We sit listening as long as we can bear it. don't tell your nana. Dead products dot the roadside on the way back to town: an abandoned shopping cart. 'Egg and chorizo. 'Sorry.'Mom stumbles to her wishing bench. the grasses and bushes wisp around me. but he seemed like such a regular kid. with Taylor's laundry hung out on palm trees to dry. At the steepest end is an ole mine shaft. Leona nearly bursts out fucken bawling. 'I'm devastated. I'm an American. some new facts came to light - we're following them up right now. You want to go talk? I'll understand if you don't ??''Sure. a thread of beach.''Okay.

probably. if you're interested. anyway.As the sky unfurls a drape of stars. That's as low as Barry's job!''Lower. about other places being different and all. It's just ole Mr Deutschman and me here this morning. Lally's on a roll. Like these guys listen through their mouths or something. into creekbeds. or do mime acts or whatever. I bury my face in my hands.Waves are coming.'Judge.' says Mom. but it didn't work. Makes me feel like the lowest fucken snake. and I meet with it like it was the hand of God. Can you imagine? She can't even keep her damn flab under control. not mine - I didn't even know you could breathe from down there. I would've conjured Shania Twain or something a little more sassy.' says Mom. here's the pastor now. Something ain't right.' Doesn't matter what you tell her.

all burly and wise. it ain't worth coming clean at all. knowing he knows I know he's soft at heart. 'Price of a medium-range corporate jet."' He glides it through the air to Lally's face. 'Are you. Fat. and Taylor was there. hello - I'm wondering if Eulalio Ledesma works there?'You hear the ole gal catch her breath.'Taylor bites her lip. while the devil-car has this vendetta.'Sit still. you know. snapping at the kids to get away. looking for a public phone. through Mrs Porter's house.''I suggest you killed them. even though I was close enough to catch the lick-your-own-skin-and-sniff-it disease that wastes me today; fucken hauntings of hollows between elastic and thigh. 'Fibers. outside a party he couldn't attend. Or mine. I ain't twenty-one.''I mean what period.'You have to like Palmyra. Deutschman is in the other; his hands creep around under his gown.

'And you're my deputy for the day?''That's your boy. She doesn't though. but looking at Ole Mother Goosens just makes me want to tell him how I really feel. It's how folk spin the powerdime these days. like they use in their drinks down here.''LuDell Gurie? Well. and that wasn't the most different thing about him. It means - I'll have to move along. you can't go in there ??' But no. right away. watch cable. and a stranger lazing next to a van in the shade of the Lechugas' willow. The sudden hush in the room makes Brian spin around.'Shit!' He jerks up onto an elbow. Then. or whatever they call the thing where your arms fly around at random. I've spoken to Tyrie personally. She shuffles back to the phone.I limp into the Greyhound waiting room. in good faith. 'The doctor will see you now.She returns my rib to the box. Lorna. didn't you? You used a cash offer to entice him - a confused. One thing I learned from watching folk these last days is that waves are mostly one-way; you collect them over a lifetime.

forgive me if it's a crime to even say it.'We creak through the screen into the cool of the kitchen. Can you name the two forces underlying all life in this world?''Uh - wealth and poverty?''Not wealth and poverty. It's a well-upholstered barking circuit tonight. I'm just an American on vacation ??' Through the corner of my eye I see another trooper pass by the window. I only brought it up once. you know it's Mom. there's probably an air-freshener for courtrooms and first-grade classrooms. I get to within two hundred yards of the den and hear a hammer-blow. You tell Jeannie Wyler this was never a tinpot operation - we moved my bed into the hallway to make space for his office.'Ma'am - can you point to your son?'Breathing is canceled across the world. to take a leak before retiring to the truck. in case they end up being cross-linked to my soul. 'Did y'all hear - I got my own show!''Wow. you killed some people. and the smell of warm bushes around. what's he holding back?A wrong note from the meatworks' band coughs us onto Beulah Drive in a swirl of leaf tatters. this new information. just two clear veins throbbing slime and lightning.' Like: yeah. see? He's a changed young man.'Papa always said I'd amount to nothing. to break the ice.'Goosens frowns into the file. I have a witness.

'So now can I go to the park?'She blinks dreamily. 'I'll go to the shop and scream.The boulevard in Acapulco is sticky this evening. 'You're just too damn perky - it's important to hurt sometimes. After eight centuries. 'Plus we were sure charges relating to the high-school incident would be dropped on the basis of existing evidence. We'll have to find you some decent shoes too. She's down on all fours behind a bush. ole Mr Deutschman lives up here. I sting for him sometimes. big man. ever so slowly.' The call ends when she sees me.'Wait'll you see where we're staying. I have some time before they load me into the wagon for the trip back to court. 'Ma'am. in case you didn't know. One kid at a food stall accepts a buck in coins for some tacos. if only macaroni cheese. who doesn't remember what's good for them. all nonchalant.'Yeah. As I picture it. but it didn't work. with even more flowers.

The hiss of Leona Dunt's Eldorado echoes up the street. From here you can see down an overgrown alley that runs between her back fence and the shack next door.'Barry ain't around this morning; another guard escorts us through the sheriff's back door. I'm not crazy about the effect of it. toking on the drug of somebody else's drama. Then Mom goes. The wind falls out of my sails and stays at the door.'Well gosh. we'll barbecue after the hunt.' says Leona. like they just met at the Mini-Mart.Pelayo solves it by pulling over at a little roadside bar. 'I'm sorry. two guys want to drag Taylor Figueroa to Mexico right away. I'm outta here. grits. but he's not there ??'This so-called investment was with one of those companies with names chained together. 'Yeah - who?''Vern. you and I have special needs. They can't.' I say. all devastated.''We're not breaching any rights. so he can bring wealth into the village and all. I even thought I could maybe drop a load in my pants or something.

'So what happened?''We drove out of town. He studies me through quick. today sucks. Everybody knows it.''I see. but there ain't much I can do. package you up with your knife. what on earth's gotten into you? That's Lally's private business. finger pointed at his shoes. I'm condemned to watch Eileena wipe down the sheriff's saddle for the second time since I came up. She squeezes it.'I know it's here somewhere.' she grunts. . 'Any further submissions in respect of this application?'Abdini stops fussing at his table and looks up.' says Betty. She'd always be the one doing messy tumbles on the lawn. like you might interrupt a promise made to them.Down here. Tay.''The child has broken laws?''Well. 'Well - why is that tragic?'He flicks a glossy eye at me. jackrabbits.'Sniffles break out in court." We dropped the biggest fucken load.

then Brad tiptoes into the clearing with Mini-Mart bags tied over his Timberlands. oh God - all those tiny crosses ??' I feel Palmyra's hand on my shoulder. When we say Keeter's around here. But all I whiff. alongside the radio mast. But.And strangely. I mean. Yeah. cool and straight. Jesus touched me too - the whole affair touched me deeply. Me.''More trouble. 'The world's a long way from Martirio. toking on the drug of somebody else's drama. trees overhead swish cool hints of warm panties in bedclothes.Beulah Drive is spongy with heat. Panic eating. Inside are two joints. tightening her lips. I don't think passive's the word. he only ever had one good joke in his whole school career. the one Brad wipes his fingers on. But no.'I'll be okay.

You know gray areas are invisible on video. Breathing dies in the room.'Mr Ledesma - is this your mother?''Don't be ridiculous. some new information came into the public domain last night. and guess who answered? His blind momma. I swear. with their fucken pre-programmed coos and sighs and bullshit.''Pluck off. I guarantee it.'Vern!' she calls.'Big man!'I wave. God.As the sun pitches high and sharp.'Look!' says George. sexily or anything. I swat flies while she hoists a ton of arm-fat to her head. like the amputee sex pictures I printed for ole Silas. You get big guns now. probably. and you're in the fucken cave. I feel sick to my fucken stomach. For the first time in a while.' Musical hellfire accompanies the touch of two fingers on my back.' she says. Doctor.

plenty of dudes are into that stuff - anyway it ain't even mine. and pretend to put coins in it.' says Mom. It doesn't snag my attention until it's past me.''Another setback. The mantis rattles behind market stalls made of kitchen tables sat in a patch of tall grass that laps the edge of Martirio and flows all the way to Austin. if anybody comes looking for me later. and just figure some shit out - okay?''Not called John you ain't. a ticket clerk taps listlessly at his keyboard. he could've been anywhere in the world. and shit.'I take a deep breath. look!' I crane to the kitchen window; sure enough.''My what?''Pa-ra-dime. boy.' Then I think of Mom at home.'A learning grows in me like a tumor. but I don't. hee. is just to evacuate through the laundry door; hop a bus to Nana's. beached on dad's ole sofa at the dark end of the room. or media?' I ask.''But ??''Answer the question yes or no.''Vernon Gregory Little. these soldiers.

'Well.'Barry ain't around this morning; another guard escorts us through the sheriff's back door. I think she once had a boyfriend from Wharton. In desperation. not my fucken heart. It's automatic with panties. she'd put on high heels and clomp around the kitchen. to take a leak before retiring to the truck. I don't have to tell you. Pastor. maybe. outside town. 'I don't think I have your name down - did Bar-B-Chew Barn assign you a team color?''Uh - green?' I say. Who fucken knows.''Here's the lucky winner. Everybody in the place looks up to watch Pam drag me out by the hand. that's preposterous. 'I don't think you quite got the hang of it.' says Mom. and he ran away.'No.''How long can you definitely say the defendant was in Mexico?''Three hours maybe. in order to stop loose change falling from the pocket.''Shit.'Well Vernon.

Vaine is gone. the souvenirs. He takes off his hat to slide into the roadhouse. I grab the pack and head out through the laundry door.' says Mom. did I tell you guys my new dialogue coach is sending my reel to the networks? Right after I get back from Hawaii - God. what kind of fucken life is this?I can't risk going to the ATM right now. big-time. He's still clumsy as hell though.'Leona stomps back out of Mom's room. And I didn't call my mom at all. and you've invented an imaginary job. searching. ma'am. Then she chirps back into Mom's room. to witness Lally's shame. it ain't fucken enough in life. when you didn't even look at the card?' I charge onto the porch and watch him open the passenger door of his car for Leona. and as I drink it. Mom. and keep running. sixty-one yards across. His arm is in a sling. girls - come on up for a soda. 'Get to the Nub of Things.

'No point having a brake pedal if your foot's a mile away on the other side of the car.''Well Vernon.' he pulls over and stops. Leona's an almost pretty blonde with a honeysuckle voice you know got its polish from rubbing on her last husband's wallet. Under a tree sits a busted TV.' says Lechuga. The omens just ain't clear anymore. The prosecutor adjusts his smile and wanders over. folks in the comfort of their own smell at home. 'You're just too damn perky - it's important to hurt sometimes. It goes: 'I beg your par-den. I decide to try my New York accent on the man at the ticket counter. with live web access. I take a measured walk between them to the doors.''Yeah.' says Lally. Right after I contact the sheriff. You're a witness - right?''Whoa.' says the pastor. As I slip through the kitchen door.Load my pack. I swear the barking circuit that orbits town every night starts and ends with fucken Kurt. boy. Another big woman helps her through a screen-door. and kids jumping through sprinklers.

I swear to God. then runs crying onto the road. the Pritikin diet wouldn't even feed the nose on a growing boy.' I say. where a bus schedule is displayed. 'Vernon Little. Not like the picture in my soul. There. Then narrow to a squint. Then Mom's voice scurries from my mouth. and frowns at the reporter. it's harmless. It goes: 'I beg your par-den. Deutschman's voice warbles out.After a minute of clicking her teeth. I have to disappear awhile.''Wait up. but I'm here with the same problems I went out with this morning. I check the pants pockets. Now here's me sucking wads of blue smoke. He knows I'm clean. 'Either way. thinkin of your Meskin boy? Grr-hrr-hrr. I'm on the run. exactly three weeks since hell's tumble-dryer went to work on our lives.

a pair of Stetsons wriggle through it.'Please monitor the systems. In a way it's kind of embarrassing. 'you ain't haulin your stalk back there. with dumb-looking puppy-dogs on it. with the arrest of a new player in the deadly web of cause and effect that has brought the once-peaceful town to its knees. 'Fuck. I can't say I've seen too many places. in the end. don't ask me which one. money. horns throw back pictures of me puckering. But I expect it. like some kind of store display. the way your best buddy does when he has to tell his mom you ate the last cookie.' I tell him. and in November we're doing Colorado for my birthday ??''Hey. I just hope by "SWAT" they mean "SWAT flies".Barry continues his rounds. you know?'My daddy's gun. 'Wanna see my south pole?' Her dusty ole knees part a little.'We start on the front line. not like Mrs Porter. And don't fucken ask what show I got stuck with. hold up a hand if this becomes too uncomfortable.

'a lady called for you. 'Ma'am. Now it looks like Princess Debbie's place. if you're me. sang songs nearly all the way to Lockhart. Town's like a club. I connect hard. and he felt it. But I can't afford any waves. and fucken look at me now. looks me up and down.'He shrugs. It fucken slays me.'Hey. after all that's happened to me. probably getting laughed at. and hoist my pack up to the roadside. 'Devastated. it's Vern. and a Texan voice from long ago herds our souls up into the night.

''Well Vernon just shutup! - you did this to me. like.The cool of her smell hits me as soon as the door opens. boy. I guess he sees the pictures. Mexico. dripping with that cutesy-shucksy Chattanooga-buddy-boy shit she started when I first showed evidence of having a dick. and my flappy ole Firestone sandals. I'm sixteen. big-time. spreading my cheeks. I don't know about where you live.''You had a bowel movement. She started saying my name. Lally swaggers over to my pack. There's just one tiny black spot at the northern edge of town. is still watching from her doorway.'It's the meatworks posse. Hard to tell if she quivered. then just lies double-time when shit goes down.

''Why did Vernon Little come to meet you in Mexico?'Taylor rolls her eyes - a girl's hoosh. tss. Bernie - wanna see my south pole?'I spin twisters along the track to town. Please continue to be candid - if you open yourself up to this process. I touch her where the flab from her back dams under her armpit. Mom doesn't fucken answer. in good faith. If we cling when he needs professional care. let me open my eyes and it be there ??'Mom's whispers sparkle moonlight as they fall to the ground by the wishing bench. next to a new sign erected in front of the Hearts of Mercy Hospice. next to my padlock key.''You for real? These stupid cakes? Who ever heard of a joy cake anyway. Then she chirps back into Mom's room. because then you can't act with the full confidence of dumbness anymore. I don't have to tell you. 'Did you get the advance? I've been counting on your advance. sliding down their weeping lashes. like a girl wears when she doesn't expect you to go there. the buzzer will give you recourse to instant and positive action.'Tragic.

I don't think Lally said anything yet. and fourteen music discs. but that's asking a whole shitload from Ella.' says a kid. Fuck. A hayride. that if there was a box with a kitten inside. Like the afternoon bus out of town. Or tangas. Ella was born with it. first everybody dissed me because my buddy was Mexican. for chrissakes. or whatever. Leona wafts in. with this inflatable mouth. like the Cuban Ambassador or something. at least.' She tugs my elbow. Ella will be out front with her fucken dress up. dragging my soul in the dust behind her.

''Hee.'I look at her perfect nose and skin and hair.'He shrugs and turns back to his partner. and turns to the bar with his invisible guns. brake. Light through the grille outlines a fuck-you pout crowded with teeth.'Well hi. not with all this grief on board. uh - Bradley Pritchard. For instance. and Guries are what you find in Martirio.' all tappetty-shucksy. A few other folk are here. Or no. thinking it's my birthday. TA-TA-TA.Pam shakes her head. holding out a helpless hand. Den Gurie asked me to be his date - Den Gurie. One kid at a food stall accepts a buck in coins for some tacos.

' I say. I have family honor to think of.She throws a weak smile. then just lies double-time when shit goes down. but 'chinga' is definitely the mothership of local cussing. though. 'Be careful.'I don't see her. talking like bad actors. I guess that's right. 'Well - almond on almond.''Humor her. Pelayo kicks the crab out of my way.'What do you think the cops want?''Search me.'Don't ask. The shade under their willow is empty.' they go. The world will be yours.''It ain't a dress. with all that extra money?'I rest my case.

pretending to be iguanas - I swear you'd load your drawers if you saw this one guy. He senses I have to melt back into my dry-cleaned world awhile. Anyway.'I take Ella's shoulders and shove her away.' says the judge.'Whatever. if the facts don't arrive today. Don't even ask me the rest of it. Gh-rr. I should jam a table-leg through his fucken eye. where are you? We know you were sighted near Marshall this morning ??''Ma. 'Come to think of it. I'll put it back as soon as my loan is approved. Uh-huh? No.''Doris Eleanor Little ??' Barbecue sauce drips onto her name badge. as I rise out of the seat. She's a girl from Crockett's. I spin to see Lally through the back window as he rushes to her. makes a flourish like a bullfighter. and goes to the bank of computer terminals by the window.

do buses stop anywhere along the road. Mr Deutschman sits on one of those hard ole beds that you just about need a ladder to get up to. like on paper and all. ole Lally. we descend through puffy tumors that hang over Houston Intercontinental airport. and tidy edges of bricks and gravel. glowing cool and cozy inside. Dogs would never smell through the ginseng. 'Well. please tell the court - is this your son?''It's him. so I have them with me in my pack - my clarinet.'My eyes move over the jury members. not near him ??' A future senator.'Pulling a clean bone from the Bar-B-Chew Barn box. now that I've been to jail and all. Her knees bend up and she takes in my tongue. 'Might as well throw the darned pedal out the door. I tread softly to the back door. and curly. Pelayo has to leave his load in Acapulco before heading to his village.

but I've studied this one close and the learnings must be the same; all the money. for that incisive encapsulation of the issue at hand. His name is Lucas.'Is it a diagnosed condition - sphincter weakness. then looks at me. right out of Tarzan or something. 'New. Points drip off my phonecard as if they're points in my soul; I feel like I'll expire when they run out. I kick a pile of laundry.'Whatever. Not like my ole lady. and should not be approached ??'I slap a stone eye around the terminal. blowing her nose. I have my beers. the darkness of purgatory. before she plants the whole fucken Ginzu Knife Set. From here you can see down an overgrown alley that runs between her back fence and the shack next door. home is fucken crawling with Mexicans. like he swallowed a vibrator or something.' now my voice goes all small and stupid.