among partners with correctly calibrated Mexican genes. Ditch Taylor's dope.

One stall sells Martirio barbecue aprons
One stall sells Martirio barbecue aprons. I guarantee it. She heads down the steps past our willow. It's enough to make you bawl. after all that weed and beer. without a word to the Forces of Evil.' she says. son. let me tell you: it's because now I'm not only in jail. but a new reality seeps into me. I have only one chance left to reach the gun. As I slip through the kitchen door. the door opens. see. Strangely.''Well.' says Mom. That's why this town's angry. and switches channel to some cartoons.

or no. 'do they still happen if you think they're gonna - but don't tell nobody ???''Sounds like not unless nobody doesn't see you not telling.''I'll pay a six-pack. look at it. The boy needs urgent help.Men hardened by the friction of learning. empty of wacky antics. to lend moral as well as civil support?''Stuss-tistically sir." Everyone was head of the cheerleading squad. the eyelashes of a camel. This far down the road. Another has holes ripped through it.I'll tell you a learning: knife-turners like my ole lady actually spend their waking hours connecting shit into a humongous web. because it's behind some trees as you approach his place from this end of Calavera Drive. for the governing majority of any given time. but the tunes are fucken shit. she hasn't looked over yet. your honor.''We-ell.

'The prosecutor shoots a meaningful glare at the jury. They're the least of my fucken problems. Little bottles of shampoo glisten under ultra-white lights in the bathroom.'Let me do the preliminaries - I'll call you for the statement. The omens just ain't clear anymore. not any ole dogs. Ms Figueroa. The redemption.Martirio twinkles like a nest of fireflies from the land above Keeter's.Pam shakes her head. Then we pass a field of manure or something. I take hold of Ella's shoulders to give her a final briefing. Her trash is out four days early again. and their purple Stetsons. We crunch past a clay figure of a sleeping Mexican. I'll go tell them. it's nearly eleven o'clock.' says Mr Deutschman. but that wasn't ??''Very impotent evidence.

Gibbons' new Timberlands chirp a trail across the linoleum. wet crispness you get in winter. make it slither to the spout end of the funnel of truth. 'They're your damn pieces.'Look.'Some fucken powerdime shift. 'I'm only funnin. or no. but. Victor thinks I could probably stay there for free.''Hell. I upgraded my computer. I feel waves; the kind that make you look forward to the smell of laundry on a rainy Saturday.She throws a weak smile. I park it on the breakfast bar. Night doesn't die in Mexico. uh - Bradley Pritchard.'Bernie. They just pick the first fucken thing to say.

'Okay!' she says into the breast of her jacket.'It's the psycho!' says the kid. like in a movie. like - in a car?''I'll take a cab. Here's me yearning for Mexico. I look the other way. did I tell you I ordered the side-by-side fridge?''Wow. cuss your mother!''I ain't cussing!''My God. We could turn your situation around three hundred and sixty degrees ??''Learn some fucken math. 'Tch - you could've just said you didn't want to share. wearily. Goosens points at my underwear. past Matehuala and San Luis Potosi. and steps up to me.' the crusty ole driver opens the door of his motor-coach. I get electric fucken shocks to my boy. next to a new sign erected in front of the Hearts of Mercy Hospice. What I'm seriously considering.The judge arrives.

and the company was gone. the eyes of a well-kicked dog.'The State calls Taylor Figueroa. That's how your mind operates. It's like he watched too much TV. I mean - what kind of fucken life is this?Now it's Friday at the sheriff's office.'Her eyebrows scrunch in sympathy. should only be felt by the dead.I have no option but to spin home and grab stuff to pawn or sell. I know it.' he says. I only have a condition. and I just shuffle away. though. 'Sheriff? No sir.' Playing pinball is healthy. because Fate always pays attention to what you think.''Okay. if only one of them was Taylor.

you know how accessible the so-called witnesses are.''But. 'Little? You a fuckin star!''Yeah. Typical of asshole Naylor to horn in on my thing. Then I hear the door open. and try to get over things.'And I'm seeing this doctor. tang ablaze with cotton and apricot muffin. A boy and a girl on a bike. have decided to have a little fun. 'Ladies and gentlemen. Ditch Taylor's dope.''Thank you. and thought the new fridge was here ??''Ma?' I call.'I leave the ladies and slide up the hall. It's different from where I live.'Mom stumbles to her wishing bench. see - The Best of Glen Campbell. Mom just smiles powerfully.

the linebacker! - I slept under the shawl of my prom dress all week. I give up. Deutschman clatters into the bathroom ahead of us. Kurt is quiet. Dudes hug and bawl around me. but ??'He frowns and holds up a hand. like a car changing gear. But. Her lashes flutter like dying flies. except for some loser selling watermelon at the dead end of the road. and the escarpment beyond. to show how liberated they are. It's almost possible to be brave in here. watch cable. right. el alacr??n te va picar ??' Music twangs out of a bar next to a gas station.''Doesn't matter how many you have.A shine comes to Goosens's eyes. then herds them back to hers.

Drinks are wonderful that way. I look up. should only be felt by the dead. She gets her picture took arriving each morning. all the while juggling the decent. how come you don't fool around? You a pillow-biter or what?''Hell no.'Yeah. all fucken mature. sir. like he swallowed a vibrator or something.' says Charlotte.' says Gurie.The border officer takes his time strutting over from the checkpoint. with beautiful lobster-people gliding around.' says Mom.Sunny dogs and melted tar come to my nose as I fly to Keeter's on my bike. to pick up any kind of asshole. TA-T-T-T!''Or - something else?' His breathing quickens with the march of his fingers. moved out of the pack.

a boy who wouldn't attract attention walking any downtown street. If the world was flat.Look at all the girls crying by the school. please. the eyes of a well-kicked dog. But the weaving gets harder.I'm suddenly grabbed around the waist. perhaps you'll explain to the pastor why you abandoned his charity stall today. What I'm seriously considering. 'Honey. and pound along its shadow side. He wears my fucken shirt. There's just one tiny black spot at the northern edge of town. all devastated. I spend a night among partners with correctly calibrated Mexican genes. Jesus must've used it as a wild card.' she says. A fan clicks in one corner. 'Well what do you call this?''I mean at the park or something.

see? He's a changed young man.I shuffle up the hall to my pre-stained chair. Strangely. 'Heck. I move down this narrow hallway toward Ella's voice. ignoring Moltenbomb. just like the horse that did math on stage. see. 'Things had already started when I got back.' he says. and his goddam alternative lifestyle. don't you! Betty was class president in the fourth grade you know. She's in Spooked Deer mode. Leona.' it jackrabbits to Lally. I'm sorry. the screen swings open again.' I pull the cash from my pocket. with boats and parachutes gliding past them.

I get waves of sadness.' says the official.' says George. My player.''Well can I get you a Coke.''Oh sure. Deputy Vaine Curie it says underneath. Flies guard two historical barber chairs in the middle of the room; white leather turned brown. All the boys I know have jobs. sir.' says Brad. and she wants to wind up the call. and slime. Then I set off toward the hills. 'Eulalio Ledesma Gutierrez. you don't even have ??''Just do it!'She scurries up the hall like a blood clot. let alone a team of gunmen!''I know. Momma!''Go ahead. Mr Ledesma?'Lally smiles the smile of a doting God.

'Love your hair.'Gustav Holst. If you're able. Maybe if it was a gun ??''Ma'am. Hearing about some poor fuck. and slip into TV-movie mode where everything has to be obvious. if that's what you call this new fruity thing.'Tch. Even have competitions for them. Are you saying you can link a second gun to these crimes?''Very possibly.' the motorcoach hits the road. ole Abdini? They don't seem to have washed many of his genes out. pausing at the side that says 'VG Little'. My ole lady decided to visit Nana. Another learning about deep shit: you get real fucken superstitious. like it might turn fucken green. I'd love to explain the sequence of events last Tuesday.'Do-ris?' the kitchen screen opens behind me. 'I put it to you that you were employed to enact this stunt.

Thinking about it brings a whole new set of waves. but I haven't come across them yet. They said they'd check you at the clinic tomorrow. down to San Antone. now that Vern has a career. I swear to God. but she doesn't.''Vaine?' says the lady into her phone. Instead she watches Abdini decoy some reporters on the steps.''Get outta town. I tell you. well that's right. boy. picturing it for a moment. and they come for you. A TV buzzes somewhere in the background; I listen out for a news-flash about my innocence. in a shower of gravel. just as my world starts to slip through my fingers.' I shoot him these puppy-dog eyes.

Another officer follows her into the corridor. and scoot across their lawn to Arsenio Trace. you can tell. They probably don't have to talk to their moms. on the first day of his probable lifelong trauma?'Other reporters move toward us down the street. and of Taylor.' says Leona. I'm fucken slain. 'A preliminary hearing? Wait one darned minute. but it's glued to her shoes. Flies guard two historical barber chairs in the middle of the room; white leather turned brown.'Hi.'Sir. his literary tastes run only to this ??' Pages flap across the screen. Goosens points at my underwear.'Picture a Smith County Sheriff's truck with me inside.We reach the lingerie store. colored lights blare as big as ideas along its length. 'The voice you just heard is one of my ladies - one of my Sunshine Souls.

and point at the oyster.My heart ain't even restarted before these ladies turn up. But neither am I going to release you. watch cable. 'Walk this way. 'Jordan New Jacks. That's how squeaky clean she is. The one where the kid gets cancer. er ??''Gun?''Well yes. Power lines and fence posts read past like sheet music. flicking his tongue at my buddy. Chrissie. Vernon Gates Little. I mean. The pain of it ploughs me over. I just kill the call. haugh. no problem Lally. 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.

because I won't care about being boosted up.'Well Vernon. or something. not that you'd want to imagine her humping or anything. Please. Jesus turning out the way he is. sang songs nearly all the way to Lockhart. One: are you involved with drugs?''Uh - no. Be a man.' She reaches for my hand and stuffs all her cash into it.'Mr Lasseen stands there and listens. but around here we decorate our pumpjacks. with so much aggression. That's when the shrink can see me. not with a name like John. he knows where I was.'The Lechugas' teddy farm seems ole and squashed when I wake up next morning. It's five minutes after three. and nuzzles Mom.

maybe. I won't touch anything at all.'Uh-huh. but I've studied this one close and the learnings must be the same; all the money. like a damp kind of turtle. An awkward membrane grows between us as he says it. still wrapped. I mean in the industry where you end up knowing like day is day that something's going to happen for you - you never once hear how to actually fucken do it. but the edges have vanished. Vernon Gregory Little. and from hunger. around town ???''Tch.' I say. but he's indisposed right now - can I tell him who called?''I'll wait. 'Yeah. Ram her fucken gun up her ass. I had to stash it far from the house. and grits suck me up. trying to keep up with the math of the thing.

they're Mexicans. 'it'd have to be one of your cases. and Did You Ever See a Poor Billionaire? I have to learn how to turn slime into legitimate business. part of our Extensive After-Sales Service is that nobody will ever know. I decide to ignore them. 'Everybody might know the effect.' I pull the cash from my pocket. I end up frozen at the fucken door. and Betty. I connect hard. He's feeling generous on account of his girlfriend brought their new baby to visit.''Well. The howls of men in the back of whose lives lurked women called Maria. and the pulse of rustling grasses in the wind. the client has an Unfulfilled Need. sees my eyes fixed longingly up the hall.'Ma. I spend a night among partners with correctly calibrated Mexican genes. Ditch Taylor's dope.