Page 18 (1/2)

BY JOE RLANSDALE

My daddy told ht to be, because the owner, who had once been a good friend of his, and the owner&039;s friends were troubleso they were no-accounts or hoods My h school, about twice a week, sometimes three tio over to the pool hall to shoot a few runs of Solids and Stripes, which was the only pool ga there was that pool was thought of as a tough guy&039;s gaar s around And that&039;s just the way Rugger&039;s Pool Hall was I saw Jack Rugger and his friends at e fro My daddy was no shrinking violet, either, but his strength and anger were generally of a positive sort and not directed at er and his pals were aand fighting and about how bad they were, and the thing was, I knew they weren&039;t just bragging

I figured I was pretty bad myself, and so did Donald and Lee They were my fan club In school, with ht-lifting otten into fights outside of school with older, bigger college boys and whipped the for a chance to prove it

So, this ti about, alked over there from school to buy a couple of soda pops and shoot soirls and tail, like we&039;d had any, and e got there, Rugger&039;s cousin, Ray Martin Winston, was there along with Rugger and a retarded kid who cleaned up and kept sodas in the soda machine The kid alore a red baseball cap and overalls, lived in the back, and Rugger usually referred to hi with this without any kickback He was as dedicated to Rugger as a seeing-eye dog, and about as concerned with day-to-day activities as a pig was about algebra

Ray Martin was older than ere, but not by much Maybe three years He had dropped out of school as soon as he could, and I had no idea what he did for a living, though it was rumored he stole and sold and ran a fehores, one of which was said to be his sister, though any of it could have been talk He was a peculiar-looking fella, one of those who seem as if their lives will be about trouble, and that was Ray Martin He was lean but not too tall, had a shock of blond hair, which he took great care to lightly oil and comb It was his best feature It was thick and fell down on his forehead in a Beach Boy kind of wave His face always made me think of a hammerhead shark It had to do with his beady black eyes and the way his nose dropped straight down froth of his face until it stopped just above lips as thin as razor cuts His chin looked like a block of stone He had chunky white teeth, all thereat Dick Tracy villain He had a reptilian way of , or at least that&039;s how it seeuess in the back ofto find out just how dangerous he really was

We shot a game at our table, while Ray Martin shot alone at one of the other three, knocking the cue ball around, racking and breaking and taking shots Free tiood ar my oats that day, and I looked over and said, &039;You&039;re pretty good playin&039; yourself&039;

Ray Martin raised his head and twisted it, cracked his neck as he did, and gave er came over quickly with a beer froht to be soame up&039;

Ray Martin nodded, took the wet beer bottle, sipped it, and examined me with the precision of a sniper about to pop off a shot &039;Sure,&039; he said &039;That could happen&039;

He went over and sat in a chair by the wall and drank his beer and kept his eye on ame, and Donald leaned over close and said, &039;He didn&039;t take that well He thought it was some kind of crack&039;

&039;I meant it as a crack,&039; I said

&039;I know And he took it as a crack&039;

&039;You think I&039;ed a little He licked his lips I thought his lower jaw shook &039;No I&039;m not worried about you I know you can take care of yourself&039;

I didn&039;t believe hiether I had seen that spark of doubt in his eyes, and it annoyed ht not be as bad and tough as I thought I was I saw the retarded kid glaring atopen, and it soh truth was, if that kid had two thoughts, they probably canceled each other out

I gave Ray Martin a glance, just to show him my ball sack hadn&039;t shrunk, and his stare was still locked onbrave, but there was so about the way he looked at me that clawed its way down inside of me I had never seen anyone with that kind of look, and I wrote it off to the way his face was and that no , he&039;d look like that Hell, his old mother probably looked like that; she probably had to tie a pork chop around her neck to get fucked

I peeked at Rugger He was looking at me, too, but with a different kind of look, like sohway in front of an eighteen-wheeler, wondering hoas going to turn out I thoughtI&039;d make it When he and my father were kids, ht that had becoainst six others, and they had won, and in style, sending two of their foes to the hospital I guess, through ave h now that I look back on it, he wasn&039;t that old Probably in his forties then, balding, with a hard potbelly, ars too short and thin for the bulk of his upper body - a barrel supported by reeds

This concern and Donald&039;s doubt didn&039;t set ith me, and itsmart to Ray Martin, when the front door opened and akhaki pants and a plaid shirt and a blue-jean jacket and tie- up boots He was as dark as Ray Martin was blond and pale &039;How&039;re y&039;all?&039; he said He sounded like someone who had just that day stepped off the farm for the first tih the front door, which was glass with a roll-down curtain curled above it, and parked next to the curb I could see a shiny new Impala It wasn&039;t a car that looked like it ith the fella, but it was his

Rugger nodded at him, and the fella said, &039;I onderin&039; you could tell er told hiot any food to sell here?&039;

&039;Soer said &039;Got a Coke ers or nothin&039;&039;

&039;I guess I&039;ll just have soe off the rack, and the hick paid for them He went to the Coke machine and lifted the lid and reached down in the cold water and threaded a cola through the littlein your money You don&039;t see those kinds of machines any more, but for a while, back in the sixties, they were pretty popular

He pulled the cap off with the opener on the side of the box and turned around and said, &039;Ain&039;t nothin&039; like a store-bought Co-Cola,&039; as if there were any other kind He swigged about half the drink in one gulp, pulled it down and wiped hisof peanuts with his teeth and poured them into the Coke bottle The salt ed that and chewed on the wet peanuts and came over and watched us play for a a me some crunched peanuts on his teeth

&039;Yeah,&039; I said &039;Well, we got a full table&039;

&039;I see that I do I&039;ht ood too&039;

&039;Well, good for you,&039; I said &039;Did your old pappy teach you not to bother folks when they&039;re playin&039;?&039;

He size &039;

&039;Hey, you,&039; Ray Martin called

We all looked

&039;You want to play some pool?&039; he said to the hayseed &039;I&039;ll play you&039;

&039;Sure, I&039;ll play,&039; the hayseed said, shrugging his shoulders &039;But I warn you, sometimes I like to play for nickels and such&039;

Ray Martin stretched his razor-thin lips and grinned those sugar-cube teeth &039;That&039;s all right, yokel We&039;ll play for such, as you call it&039;

&039;I reckon I am a bit of a yokel,&039; said the fella, &039;but I prefer to be called Ross That&039;s what my old mama named me&039;

&039;Say she did?&039; Ray Martin said &039;All right, then, Ross, I&039;ll ask you so other than Stripes and Solids? You shoot straight pool?&039;

&039;I kno it&039;s done,&039; Ross said

&039;Good Let&039;s you and me knock &039;eot to break on the flip of a coin, and he ht off, without sothe ball&039;s shadow in the direction of any of his targets

Ray Martin took his shoot, and he cleared about four balls before he missed Ross shot one in hat looked like mostly a lucky shot, and then he missed, and then Ray Martin ran as left They had bet a dollar on the gaood,&039; Ross said

&039;I&039;ve heard that,&039; Ray Martin said &039;You want to go again?&039;

&039;I don&039;t know&039;

&039;Sure you do You want to get that dollar back, don&039;t you?&039;

Ross scratched the side of his nose then shifted his testicles with one hand, as if that would help him ht I&039;ll bet you that dollar and two ot paid; I can spare a little&039;

Ray Martin grinned at him as if he were a wolf that had just found an injured rabbit caught up in the briars

By noeren&039;t shooting anythe we did, acting like we kneas going on

The game results were si a few bucks out of his wallet and paid up Ray Martin called out, &039;Hey, Retard, get over here and rack these balls You keep theive you a quarter You don&039;t, I&039;ll give you a kick in the ass&039;

The retard racked the balls Ross said, &039;I don&039;t knoant to play any more&039;

&039;Scared?&039; Ray Martin asked

&039;Well, I know a better pool player when I see one&039;

&039;How about one ame and we&039;ll throw in the towel&039;

Ross pursed his lips and looked like he wished he were back on the far a calf

&039;Hell, you can spare another two or three dollars, can&039;t you?&039; Ray Martin said

&039;I guess,&039; Ross said, and did that lip-pursing thing again &039;But I tell you what: you want to go another gaer I ain&039;t been winnin&039;, but I&039;onna bet you can&039;t do three in a row My pappy always said bet on the third in a row &039;cause that&039;s your winner&039;

&039;He rich?&039; Ray Martin asked

&039;Well, no,&039; Ross said

Ray Martin laughed a little, a sharp little laugh like a dog barking &039;That&039;s all right; even soain&039;

&039;Very well, then,&039; Ross said, &039;I&039;onna trust my old pappy I&039;ll bet yousay, ten dollars&039;

&039;That&039;s bold&039;

&039;Yeah, and I&039;e my mind, now that I think about it&039;

&039;Oh, no,&039; Ray Martin said &039;You made the offer&039;

&039;Now that I think about it, it was stupid of uess I was feelin&039; kind of full of piss and vinegar How about we drop it? My old pappy ain&039;t even right when he says it&039;s gonna rain&039;

&039;No You&039;re on Retard&039;s got &039;em racked Come on, country boy, let&039;s shoot&039;

Of course, when it got right down to it, ere all country boys, just souise, but this Ross, he was a regular turd knocker He tried to get out of it, said, &039;Heck, I&039;ll pay you a dollar to forget it I shouldn&039;t have bet anything I ain&039;t really no bettin&039; kind of oldarn britches&039;