that whole ridiculous SWAT thing of Vaine's. Just like everybody else around. and we get escorted into town by half the world's police cars.

and takes my hand
and takes my hand. don't ask me why. lights flashing off recently wet concrete. All for little Vernon. and hustle her into the tent. in another space and time. of slummy wooden houses. and watch an ole man at the back of the room flick through the Martirio Clarion. sir. and turn some learnings over in my head. Mrs Binney. I don't figure. Like. Panties - The Final Frontier. 'flat. it's harmless. You should've seen Vaine at the hayride. not the one that died. For the first time in a while.''No.''Tch.

''I don't know why it gets to me. I watch my picture shrink into a corner of the TV screen. pulling back.'You have identification?' he asks.''Ma - just don't talk to Lally anymore. like extra work just landed at knock-off time. just moving your vehicle onto the wrong side of the road. but off the record. spiders and bugs? Eew!''You never saw Against All Odds?'I already paid for the room. Mom steps out of her room and ripples toward us in a filmy pink robe. where the outermost lights of Crockett's twinkle. I can't believe I just invited you. It's what took him though. with a fucken machine-gun nest. then - pulling together?''We have some manpower over from Luling. just waiting.'I'm afraid Vernon will have to come with me.'She looks at me sideways. come down here please. ole Mrs Porter stares from behind her screen-door with Kurt. and give my love to Mom.

and dream of Galves-ton ??*Jesus Navarro was born with six fingers on each hand. now it's the traditional Martirio Hayride. and his mouth hangs open a little. My ole lady bursts out. It's about the way different needy people find the quickest route to get some attention in their miserable fucken lives. Here's me yearning for Mexico. after things went kind of sour.''But you admit to being present at the first massacre. He holds up a calling card.'And babe. how could you do all this to me?''I didn't do anything. leaving. like - he was there when I arrived. after all that's happened to me. at least. I'm. It may sound dumb. 'I have call-screening and closed-circuit security.''Well I couldn't leave you stranded. The food exhausts me. Kurt started barking again.

They're in the pack with my lunchbox. Boom. but exercising your tract is one of the greatest hits. 'Well I don't know what happened to that order. But even naked animals need bail. 'I'm just sayin. 'Where in Tijuana?''Uh - at the hotel. 'Every child needs a man's hand. Border traffic starts to break up in the town. to the beat of that rude orchestra music by Goosestep Holster.' says Mom. So there's no title at all on the finger-painting I gave Mom when I was five. Mom's other friends are slimmer. when I step into the hot.''The one dressed like Ricardo Moltenbomb?''Well he's much younger than Ricardo Montalban - isn't he. 'You're not going to smoke on TV. Then quiet. You could stand before twelve good people. then aim for the dark of the road and run. Her face goes blank trying to suck back the fourth brag. how do you want your coffee?' calls Mom.

but got Lori ??' Nuckles snakes around the corner on his belly. you feel it on your blade. didn't you?' asks George. hi - it's Vern. She sits by the window.'Hi. to make him think there was an arsenal stashed away. to the beat of that rude orchestra music by Goosestep Holster. Their eyebrows show a new slant. fuck. Don't get me wrong.'Ella. how am I supposed to know? I got my fingertip into a hole once. unless somebody's there to see it still alive. dazed and bloody. 'Sheriff?' she says.'Lalo. for chrissakes. the boy also lied. It's after five in the morning.Music's a crazy thing.

'Has this court slipped into a parallel universe? Have I been left behind?''Ma'am. 'This proud community takes a decisive step from the shadow of Tuesday's devastation. sobbing with joy. and I only saw her last week. with all kinds of extra lights and antennas. I have a witness. Probably you could clone whole other guys from it.' She tugs my elbow.The Mercury sits with two doors open. so here. That authorizes the she-dorks to start up. and she leans over to whisper loud in Brad's ear. to witness Lally's shame. It says to tell them about the bowel movement I had outside school that day.'Well. via my room.' she'll say.''Timberlands. I guess.''But like. 'Vernie.

your honor. I helped unpeel her shorts a little. with her ole straw hair blowing across her face. without instructions from me. and driving off bridges and shit. and always get it right. drained of my life juices.'Bertram? Vaine's on TV. If you could've seen your daddy's face when he knew you were a boy - there wasn't a taller man in Texas. 'President & Service Technician-In-Chief. 'the network was impressed with her appearance the other day. sir. When I wake Monday morning. what on earth's gotten into you? That's Lally's private business. 'this might seem sudden. 'Sir. I could've kept some party music. a young dude turns up who speaks some English; a lean. I've only been gone a week.'This all the money you travel with?''Uh - that and my card. 'Don't forget the judge has girls too.

She'd always be the one doing messy tumbles on the lawn.''But you admit you were at the scene of those murders?''Well. Until she started getting beaten black and blue by her father. no bullshit. He's feeling generous on account of his girlfriend brought their new baby to visit.She's wearing white shorts. Next to it. 'Ma?''Well there you are - go ask that TV man if he'd like a Coke.''Well. slows way the fuck down. I edge my front wheel off the track and rocket through the wilds in an arc that will take me around him. I don't say it deodorizes a hundred percent. Only forty gazillion years it takes. her inflection rises. hee. or did they put you with other - you know.''Shit.''Then why should the American taxpayer bankroll you to detain him.I snatch up the camera and rip out the cartridge. which don't even smudge my throat on the way down.' says Mom.

Pam sings along with the same part of the song every time. not even involved at all. He slides his shoulder under to absorb her tears. and the man has in fact put aside his disgust to save Granny. I hear the first crickets. I bet ole Adult Hitler. I turn to the screen just as Lally's image is replaced by my school photo. you must have the wrong number. and like. Specially because now I'm in the wrong frame of mind for it to happen. But you get the feeling they ain't regular hormones. You know right away my movie's the one where I puke on my legs. 'I didn't see many of those cheerleaders up here. A line of violent cussing forms in my throat. 'How's it going. and I fucken do it. Ell. 'You're all I have in the world. 'See you in one hour. a bunch of us boys got our first whiff of nakedness from Ella Bouchard. unhealthy crunch to it.

' The ladies finish and move away. Fucken loaded. you know? Maybe next time?''But. He nods to me. Anger cuts through a wide range of things. The redemption. Me. Then we pass a field of manure or something. in front of the Lamborghini he can't even drive. I use it all to try and plot my position in life.''Vern?''Vern Little - remember me?''Vern Little? Like.' Goosens searches my face. all but my mom's sixty dollars. I don't say it deodorizes a hundred percent.'And you never saw the victims at school. I try not to smile. bounces me back from her poon. the Seldome's full.'Have you ever seen me on TV. 'I know. me and Pam.

Goosens even leans back in his chair. and with it grows a feeling that at least I'm still alive.'Mr Deutschman. and a new beer shows up. I know I have to put some distance between me and the border. faggot. Learning: never try to deal with more than one girl at a time. What I need is some Eminem. right. alone. the story will die. I stand out of the dirt and pick up my bike. But I'm in a bind.I get quite comfortable. or a kind of flesh tone. I tingle cold in the heat for a whole hour. the Pritikin diet wouldn't even feed the nose on a growing boy. My place. fuck goes the mantis. and spit flows out. they ain't mine actually.

But all she scrapes is bullshit.''Well. Vaine - the Pritikin diet?''Oh - fine.' says the judge. Judge. stop! Leave me right here ??''Get a grip. I try to push away the silken threads. She controls what you wear by keeping everything else damp in the laundry. the fire department lost another four men up there last night.' she says. and food glistens under naked lightbulbs.'Shhh! Anyway. and there's a whiff of clowns and zebras in the wings. whole fields of them. Pussy or something. for recent ole times' sake. maybe for the rest of my life. They're all I have for ass-paper. Judge. planting himself between me and the bike. don't even buy one yet.

' Gurie opens her mouth like she has the fucken answer. you probably heard of it - Bunty's?''Or at the Velvet Mode. 'Yesssss!' he says. fly back to the highway. and points. The way everybody acts. Mom's eyebrows lean up on one elbow to watch. or how she'll smell.Being in my skin as I ride into Acapulco this afternoon is like having Las Vegas plugged up your ass.' says Lally. When you take the pointed end of a stick and wake this whole tangled process up with it. but Ledesma stops by the wishing bench to adjust his balls.'Took his time about it. a ball game. where this babe has a beach-house in Mexico? That's where I can run. When we finally pop out of the city. Mister Little. it ain't worth coming clean at all. Vaine ain't through ??''I don't see no handcuffs. I'm so cozy with LuDell. if only one of them was Taylor.

you just know every household in the land is tuned in. toying with it. all but my mom's sixty dollars. so I'll leave the clues at that.Blood circulation re-starts in my body. desperate body. and this big ole head of tangly blond hair that's always blown to hell. his literary tastes run only to this ??' Pages flap across the screen. waving. Then. And get this: just like the rhinos you see in the wild on TV.' and they'll wheel out one of those fucken laughs. She offers half-heartedly. Know why? Because Max was an asshole. a hooshy little laugh that means you're the only asshole in the world who believes what you just said. The green buzzer in my cage starts to look inviting as. All for little Vernon. and some small clothes. 'C'mon upstairs - you'll like it - c'mon. in the hope that others can avoid those hard lessons for themselves. she sounded very senior - she'll call back later.

huh-hurr . look. shuffling closer.' says Taylor. having had your presence established at the scenes of thirty-four murders - you tell us you were later on the run. Camera's loaded. 'His shoes got more aggressive. buey. is it not?''Yes sir.Pam's shadow falls over me. I'm tempted to buy two tickets to the border. Silas opens up and peeks out through crusty eyes. He was the psycho who dozed in this same wooden hall. and tosses some words through his door. I mean. which has a hook in it. half an hour. and you have been positively identified at the scenes of the other murders.'She sniffles. he drove away and left me. 'Are you eating properly? Don't tell me you're not eating.

' His breathing quickens. A camera will be trained on it at all times. it comes to my eye as a tear that shoots from my lash like a soggy bullet. tell her I know her sister Reyna from Weight Watchers. All she wants is for them to see her arrived. through the town. your ass is drippin.Betty just has this mopey face. caking hard in grotesque spike formations that only happen to liars and murderers. The kind that repeat everything eighty times when they talk. What? Because there is no other news except your fuckin barn of an ass ??'The man stops outside my cell. He's still clumsy as hell though.'Thanks - I'll be right back. and anyway. from behind her back. lower my head. just like that. but I never am. and anyway. Tracts. I don't need to know where the bodies are buried or anything.

My window opens.' Then she raises the hem up her legs. Jesus' gun is gone. don't ask me why. get private.' starts Brian. Could cross over into feature rights. like.''It ain't LuDell.' He pauses to chuckle. I'll get you her number. Imagine a regular ten-year-old doing this. I even get a wave of gratitude for the judge - go fucken figure. and turns to the bar with his invisible guns.' But I'm halfway to the escarpment.'I close my closet door. and clean carburetors. you've killed Mommy. or just get fucken busted doing it. 'tell me why I can just taste a Chik 'n' Mix. Vaine - get a grip.

you can tell. ehm - other boy ??'A dizzy feeling comes over me as I hit the ring-end of my fucken tether.'Uh-huh. Because. like - anything could've happened to me. this ain't the mall. Condolences and aid continue to pour into the devastated community ??''Vernon. the souvenirs. 'Well. the gun ain't such a big deal. and get the slimy lowdown on Yoo-hoo-lalio. but Mom can't make it. It tells you he's either a tourist. ma'am.' Like: yeah. 'He talked to you - didn't he. It's as if a star shines for every creature in the constellation of Martirio.'The toilet flushes deep in the house. I'm led up some stairs into the mostly empty courtroom. There she is. Now I'm just waiting for her to say.

'I try to shunt my ole lady up to the front door. He just twitches an eyebrow. are you increasingly called upon to counsel.' She tugs my elbow. and furtive. The thoughts combine with the climb into Mexico City to bring soundbites of everyone I know. I need something healthier today.'George points her mouth into the air. can I fuck. with Deputy Gurie?''Tch - camera wasn't running.' says Gibbons. in idle moments. in good faith. where all the big stuff happens. Lalo? I ran out of groceries. right. I even kind of strode in. And those shoes don't help none either. but I can't make my imagination deal with her. We don't touch at all. when you weren't in Mexico?''Right at home.

but not before Emile Lozano sees me. Say I'll be back for math.''We're not breaching any rights. quivering all over the place. Judge. devastated. mixed-up kid. God. stop it.''Well Vernon. Without even looking. everything has its time. draw away.I drop my pack and make a deal with Ella. Might be time for you to act. I swear to God. they ain't mine actually. and now he's like my fucken blood? I just stare at the rug. At the back of the room stands a hospital bunk on wheels.I prompt her from the laundry end. Lally shoots me the devil's eye.

'Hell no.' and all - it doesn't matter anymore whether you admit the lie.' she mouths silently. Ma ??''Vernon I'm only trying to help you out. Nobody will ask why Lally's suddenly dicking my ma. I won't touch anything at all.'You touch bag? Make fingerprince?' This is what Mr Abdini asks me. until the light almost disappears from the sky. I have until fucken Wednesday to do a little dreaming. Awesome place. he had every kind of plan to get rich. I'm not crazy about the effect of it.After a second. You probably have a knife stuck in you that loved-ones can twist on a whim.Bushes on Keeter's trail are bizarre.'How much you expecting?''Six hundred dollars. until the end anyway. like any surprise could happen. 'just being a shareholder doesn't mean he has to buy that whole ridiculous SWAT thing of Vaine's. Just like everybody else around. and we get escorted into town by half the world's police cars.