Falls Street (14) “You should go home, now,” he said. “What are you going to do?” I asked him. “I’m waiting out here, until he passes out,” he said. “Then, I’m going in there. After that, I don’t know what I’ll do.” “What are you talking about?” I said. “You can’t just sit out here in the street.” “You’ve got some place to go at this hour?” he asked. “We could go back to the party,” I said. “By the time we get there, everyone will be asleep,” he said. “Besides, are you sure you really want to go back? Haven’t you had enough?” “No,” I said. “Not at all.” “Well,” he said. “We can walk down there, but if the lights are off, we’re not gonna do anything.” “Okay,” I said. “Good,” he said, but we had already started walking even before we had decided on going back. “This night is messed up.” “Yeah,” I said. “Is it gonna be all right?” “If it ever ends,” he said. *** “Only a few people were awake later that night,” I said. “We stayed there for a while. Crash made it back home eventually, and he said he was all right. That’s all I know about him.” “He didn’t get into it with his old man, did he?” Renee asked me. “I just wanted to know,” she said. “I felt like a total dick having to tell you over the phone what my mom heard on that police scanner. I was hoping it wasn’t his house. I really was.” “Yeah,” I said. “I’m sorry.” “It sucks,” she said. “I can’t believe this shit keeps happening. First, all that stuff with Starky happened and now this shit. This is one fucked up town, I tell you.” “I guess,” I said. “How did he take it?” he said. “Do you know if he’s still there or is he staying some place else?” “I don’t know if anyone is there,” I said. “My mother was talking about it a little bit on the phone with one of the other ladies. She said something about her and her son Chris moving to Florida with her parents.” “No way,” she said. “He’s not even coming back here to say goodbye?” “She already had to come back here to come and get Crash,” I said. “She probably doesn’t want to see this town again. The funny thing is that no one seems to be talking about it. It’s just in the papers. Everyone knows. No one’s gossiping. These are the same people who used to pump their kids for information after school everyday. It’s like somebody’s kicked the wind right out of them now.” “Yeah,” she said. “My mother keeps asking me whether I’ve heard anything, though.” “No one tells you guys anything,” I said. “I know,” she said. “We’re just a bunch of screwed up hicks, anyway.” “I guess,” I said. “I still think they should have locked him up,” she said. “He’s his father and all, but you can’t go hitting your wife. If Chris ever hit me, the police wouldn’t be looking to arrest him. They’d be looking to find the body. Hey, Candice asked why you don’t play soccer anymore.” “I don’t know,” I said. “Would you want to go to that?” “Me?” she said. “Hell no. I’m not running around up there. Those girls are crazy if they think I’m going to run around on the field in a pair of shorts.” “They don’t do much running around,” I said. “You could just stand in place and try not to get hit by the ball.” “What fun is that?” she said. “Listen, you’ve got to let me know about Chris, okay? I feel awful I had to be the one to let him know what was happening. I feel like shit knowing you went back there, too. I was just trying to help.” “It’s okay,” I said. “He can take care of himself.” “Chris can,” she said. “But, you… well, when I saw that mark on your eyebrow, I was hoping you didn’t get it from his old man.” “No,” I said. “I got it at the party.” “Some party,” she said. “Yeah,” I said. “I’m sorry about Chris,” she said. “Maybe I just like people with that name, but I think Chris is all right. He smokes too much weed, but he’s all right. I hope he makes out good in Florida.” “And Starky?” I asked. “Did you hear anything?” “No,” she said, and then no one said anything for a while. Her brothers were shooting fireworks at each other in the middle of the road. Every once in a while, I heard, “that hurt mother fucker” or “you’re fucking dead now.” The whizzing noises were kind of pleasant. For some reason, I felt all right just watching other people act stupid. “What about you?” She asked. “Did you and Ray hook up with anyone from the party? I assumed not since you guys weren’t calling everyone you knew to brag about it.” “It all depends on what you mean by ‘hook up’,” I said. “Now you have to tell me,” she said. “Now you have to tell me the whole thing.” “I don’t really want to,” I said. “Can’t I just sit here and watch your brothers shoot their fingers off?” “No,” she said. “It’s part of the deal. I did your hair and clothes. You’ve got to tell me everything. You waited a week and a half before you finally gave the T-shirt back you little punk.” “All right,” I said. “I’ll tell you all I can remember. Where do you want me to start?” “Start with what you were doing right before you called me,” she said. *** I was surprised that all my teeth were still there after Randy hit me. It was odd to be fighting him in such a cramped space. They didn’t have much of a kitchen. What was there was very clean with shiny white tiles with a light green trim. I got a good look at them when I was down on the ground, and Randy was stepping on my back. “Had enough?” he said. “No,” I said. “Not at all.” He picked me up by my hair, and then he noticed my lip was bleeding a little. “Fuck,” he said. “You’re making a mess in here.”
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