; it's a fact of nature, in case you didn't know. Same goes for Vaine Gurie

Leave me rig

ly home.' Pam don't sto

t your town, but around here we decorate our pumpjacks. Even have competitions for them. Our pumpjack is fixed up like a mantis, with a head and legs stuck on. This gi

and a stranger lazing next to a van in the shade of the Lechugas' wi

ll morning,' says Pam, s

ger, or med

use. 'He ain't from around here, I know

gged in the apparatus of Martirio. Across the street, Mrs Lechuga's drapes are tightly pulled. At number twenty, ole Mrs Porter stares from behind her screen-door with Ku

e here?' she asks, opening my door. Her voice plays from deep in her throat, like

mean anything from her frog oven-mitt being misplaced, to actual Armageddon. But her mitt's right there, under the tray. She heads down the steps past our willow, the one with her

l now. I pull away, in vain because she chases me, covers me with spit and lipstick and fuck knows what else. Placenta, probably. All the while she smiles a smile you know you'

s. 'I'm afraid your pardner her

lmost a Gurie myself, I'm so cozy

ttle, let me explain w

e just singing out t

don't make the

e can straighten things out,' says Mom. I stiffen. You don't want G

e with me,' says Gurie. 'Then we ne

n't done any wrong, he alw

and when I trust him alone he absconds. We still

n't eve

d us, he told us

eriod,' I correct. Print me a

worry,' says Gurie. 'If y

says it's open and shut -

ody might know the effect, Mrs L

e news

his county dry of body-bags, and I, for one, hold the opinion

ttles unevenly into the dirt. The fucken bench settles a different way every week, like it's indexed to her he

re. Maybe your boy knew. Maybe not. The fact is, he absconded before o

of the Mercury. It grunts with relief as she lets

Found him near dea

arms. 'He was

the nose on a growing boy.' One sweaty eye snaps t

fine.

Gurie pays no mind. She just fixes him in the corner of her eye. The guy wears tan overalls with a white dinner jacket, like ole Ricardo Moltenbomb, or whoever Mom's favorite was who had the dwarf on Fantasy Island. He eventually penguin-walks over the r

oltenbomb. 'Let's get this c

u should know - Vernon suffers from a kind o

k, M

ou know you get th

grows a yard. Moltenbomb

She nudges me down the driveway with her body; effective law-e

He has a clinical condition!' C

e from hell. It's full of Mom's two other so-called friends, Georgette and Betty. They always just dro

so we're junior league. Fetus league, even. Apart from having the thighs and ass of a cow, and minimum tits, Leona's an almost pretty blonde with a honeysuckle voice yo

Right now she's married to the sheriff, not that you'd want to imagine them doing anything. And get this: just like the rhinos y

rad. Little fucker broke my PlayStation, but he won't admit it. You can't tell him fucken anything; h

ude, makes a flourish like a bullfighter, then steps aside as an acre of cellulite drains onto the dirt we call our lawn.

ads the way on account of being

e Porkorney. 'My ole man grow

just doing a routine check,

le, Doris?'

re perspiring!' Believe me, there ain

oltenbomb steps up to her with his camcorder and his a

y. Georgette's cigarettes appear. She's settling in. Betty's mope turns into

I ain't on TV - she is. D

frowns at the reporter. 'Firstly, sir, I'm a deputy, and

g a background stor

nd down. 'Is that ri

ur service.' Sunlight strikes some g

head. 'The world's a long wa

orld is Mart

ke a kid in a fast-food commercial. The shape of the wor

f over. 'But I can't just

, Vaine - get a

And precisely what a

steps in front. His voice ripens to melted wood. 'Once again we don the cloak of mourning - a cloak worn ragged by the devastati

ike she has the fucken answer. N

of tragedy is changing; our law-enforcement professionals. Deputy Vaine G

first time,' she sa

led upon to counsel, to lend m

elors in town than officers of the law. The

ing the challenge, the

dogs are here from Smith County, sure. A commit

e for you to spend with survivo

job is to find the cause. This town won't rest until t

y it's ope

without an underl

rch inside itself, maybe face some hard

ve to find the on

. He reaches for my shoulder

young man

nails shot with vinegar. 'G

bankroll you to detain him, on the firs

he street. Sweat brews on Gurie's fac

blic domain. God Himsel

aid I don't m

d has bro

I don't

ain him jus

h-

way down. Ledesma sizes her up, his tongue lolls restless in his ch

us the name of the sh

gave a shit about the ole sheriff. She gives one now, tho

? Vaine'

'Sheriff? No sir, I swear to God. Bandera Road? Abo

hunder chases the last shine from the pumpjack, he turns to me and winks in slow-motion. It has t

ge, and Betty. She ushers them inside, then hangs back at the screen to see if ole Mrs Porter, childless Mrs Porter, out-of-the-spotlight Mr

almyra accelerating to a waddle up our driveway. She pass

ine - barb

y - don't even go there, really. He trades stuff with us kids in return for pictures, if you know what I mean. I make a note to wipe the computer, or 'Perform some Virtual Hygiene,' as Mr Nuckles would say. My eyes crawl around the rest of the room. Last week's laundry sits in a pile by my bed, Mom

n the Lechugas' porch. Now it looks like Princess Debbie's place, or whoever the princess was who died. It's all just in a pile, stil

s to unleash mastications and puke my fucken soul to hell. But at the same time, here's me with water in my eyes, for Max, for all my classmates. The truth is a corrosive thing. It's like everybody who used to cuss the dead is now lining up to s

everybody's so antsy, but I feel like smeared shit. Then a learning jumps to mind, that once you plan to do somethi

ers from the kit