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Mark and me went down to the bar/pool hall about two or three blocks fro soood pool player, especially for being just sixteen years old, and, what's more, I look like a baby-faced kid ouldn't know one ball from another This, and the way Mark set aainst the law to be in this pool hall if you're under age, because of the adjoining bar The good deal is, the bartender and oas a good friend ofthe older brother of this chick I used to like When this chick and me broke up, I still stayed friends with her brother, which is unusual in cases like that Charlie, the bartender, was just twenty-two, but he had a tough reputation and kept order real good We lived in kind of a rough part of town and sos went on in Charlie's Bar

I looked around for a plainclothes cop ent in--I can always tell a cop--but didn't find one, so I went up to the bar and hopped on a barstool

"Give lasses just like every bartender you ever see, gave htly, "a Coke"

"Your credit ain't so hot, Bryon," Charlie said "You got cash?"

"A die a dime Coke?"

"Cokes are fifteen cents, and you already got three dollars worth of Cokes charged here, and if you don't pay up this month I'll have to beat it out of you" He said this real friendly-like, but he meant it We were friends, but Charlie was a businessman too

"I'll pay up," I assured him "Don't worry"

Charlie gave rin "I ain't worried, kid You're the one who should be worried"

I was, to tell the truth Charlie was a big, tough guy so a three-dollar beating up was so to worry about

"Hey, Mark," Charlie called, "there ain't nobody here to hustle"

Mark, who had been scouting out the two guys playing pool, came up and sat down next to me "Yeah, that's the truth"

"It's just as well," Charlie said "You guys are going to get in real bad trouble one of these days Soet hacked off when he finds out what you're doin', and you're gonna get a pool stick rammed down your throats"

"No we ain't," Mark said "Give me a Coke, Charlie"

"We don't have any credit," I said glumly

Mark stared at Charlie disbelievingly "You got to be kiddin' Man, when did we ever not pay our bill?"

"Last month"

"You said you'd add it on to this month's That's what you said So I don't see why you can't add twenty cents to that"

"Thirty cents," corrected Charlie "And, like I just told Bryon, if I don't get thatto take it out of a couple of hides"

"I'll get you the ht now"

"OK" Charlie gave in to Mark Al aith things He could talk anyone into anything "But if I don't get thefor you"

I got chilled I had heard Charlie say that to another guy once I also saw the guy after Charlie found him But if Mark said he'd have three dollars by tomorrow, he'd have it

"Speaking of looking for you," Charlie continued, "the true flower child was in here asking for you"

"M&M?" Mark asked "What did he want?"

"Ho

ould I know? Man, that is a weird kid Nice guy, but weird"

"Yeah," Mark said "I guess it would be hard to be a hippie in a hood's part of town"

"Speak for yourself, man," Charlie said "This part of town don't make nobody a hood"

"You're right," Mark said "But I really sounded profound there for a minute, huh?"

Charlie just gave hiot us the Cokes It was later in the evening now, and soot pretty busy

"Where are you gonna get three dollars?" I asked Mark

He finished off his Coke "I don't know"

That bugged the heck out of ht to know; Mark had lived at my house ever since I was ten and he was nine and his parents shot each other in a drunken argument and my old lady felt sorry for him and took him home to live with us My mother wanted a hundred kids and could have only one, so until she got hold of Mark she had to be content feeding every stray cat that caht have picked up along the line if she could have afforded more than two--me and Mark

I had been friends with Mark long before he came to live with us He had lived down the street and it seeether We had never had a fight We had never even had an arguuy, dark hair and eyes--the kind who looks like a Saint Bernard puppy, which I don't mind as most chicks cannot resist a Saint Bernard puppy Mark was solden eyes and hair to er than he looked--he could tieHe was my best friend and ere like brothers

"Let's go look for M&M," Mark said abruptly and we left It was dark outside and seemed a little chilly This was probably because school had just started, and it always seems like fall when school starts, even if it's hot Charlie's Bar was on a real crummy street with a lot of other bars whose bartenders kicked us out e strolled in, a store, and a second-hand clothes store that always had a sign in thesaying "We Buy Al"--and from the looks of their clothes, they did When ot so low on ht so used clothes

We found M&M in the drugstore reading Neeek, which shohat a weird kid he was since there were plenty of skin s to read A little kid like hi that junk, I know, but he should at least want to

"Hey, Charlie said you was lookin' for us," Mark greeted him

M&M looked up at hiuys doin'?"

M&M was the uy I knew He always had this wide-eyed, intent, trusting look on his face, but soreat He was an awful nice kid even if he was a little strange He had big gray eyes--the kind you see on war-orphan posters--and charcoal-colored hair down past his ears and down to his eyebrows He probably would have grown a beard except thirteen was too young for it He alore an old Ar for hi cold Then his father got fed up with it and M&M got a pair ofaround his neck on a piece of rawhide string, and he got his nickname from his addiction to M&M's, the kind of chocolate candy that melts in your mouth and not in your hand For years I'd never seen M&M without a bag of that candy I don't kno he ate those things all day long, day after day If I did that,you've ever seen

"You want an M&M?" He held out a bag toward us I shook my head, but Mark took one, just to be polite, since he didn't like sweet stuff "You wanted to see us for so?" Mark reminded him

"Yeah, I did, but I forgot what for" He was like that Real absent-ht

"No kiddin'?" asked Mark tactfully, thuh a Playboy "Which one?"

M&M had a er They all looked alike and it was really funny to see him out somewhere with four or five little carbon copies--with dark hair and big serious eyes--hanging all over hiht, I'd lose my temper and kill one of those brats, but then, M&M never lost his temper

"My older sister, Cathy You know"

"Yeah, I remember," I said, only I didn't remember too well "Where's she been?"