بخش 03 - فصل 23

23 Little League season is in full swing, and Brady spends that sunny Saturday afternoon at McGinnis Park, where a full slate of games is being played on three fields. The afternoon is warm and business is brisk. Lots of tweenybop girls have come to watch their little brothers do battle, and as they

stand in line waiting for their ice cream, the only thing they seem to be talking about (the only thing Brady hears them talking about, anyway) is the upcoming ‘Round Here concert at the MAC. It seems they are all going. Brady has decided that he will go, too. He just needs to dope out a way to get in wearing his special vest–the one loaded

with the ball bearings and blocks of plastic explosive. My final bow, he thinks. A headline for the ages. The thought improves his mood. So does selling out his entire truckload of goodies– even the JuCee Stix are gone by four o’clock. Back at the ice cream factory, he hands the keys over to Shirley Orton (who never seems to leave) and

asks if he can switch with Rudy Stanhope, who’s down for the Sunday afternoon shift. Sundays–always assuming the weather cooperates–are busy days, with Loeb’s three trucks working not just McGinnis but the city’s other four large parks. He accompanies his request with the boyishly winning smile Shirley is a sucker for.

“In other words,” Shirley says, “you want two afternoons off in a row.” “You got it.” He explains that his mother wants to visit her brother, which means at least one overnight and possibly two. There is no brother, of course, and when it comes to trips, the only one his mother is interested in making these days is the scenic tour

that takes her from the couch to the liquor cabinet and back to the couch. “I’m sure Rudy will say okay. Don’t you want to call him yourself?” “If the request comes from you, it’s a done deal.” The bitch giggles, which puts acres of flesh in rather disturbing motion. She makes the call while Brady’s changing

into his street clothes. Rudy is happy to give up his Sunday shift and take Brady’s on Tuesday. This gives Brady two free afternoons to stake out Zoney’s GoMart, and two should be enough. If the girl doesn’t show up with the dog on either day, he’ll call in sick on Wednesday. If he has to, but he doesn’t think it will take that long.

After leaving Loeb’s, Brady does a little Krogering of his own. He picks up half a dozen items they need–staples like eggs, milk, butter, and Cocoa Puffs–then swings by the meat counter and picks up a pound of hamburger. Ninety percent lean. Nothing but the best for Odell’s last meal. At home, he opens the garage and unloads everything

he bought at Garden World, being careful to put the canisters of Gopher-Go on a high shelf. His mother rarely comes out here, but it doesn’t do to take chances. There’s a mini-fridge under the worktable; Brady got it at a yard sale for seven bucks, a total steal. It’s where he keeps his soft drinks. He stows the package of hamburger behind

the Cokes and Mountain Dews, then totes the rest of the groceries inside. What he finds in the kitchen is delightful: his mother shaking paprika over a tuna salad that actually looks tasty. She catches his look and laughs. “I wanted to make up for the lasagna. I’m sorry about that, but I was just so tired.”

So drunk is what you were, he thinks, but at least she hasn’t given up entirely. She pouts her lips, freshly dressed in lipstick. “Give Mommy a kiss, honeyboy.” Honeyboy puts his arms around her and gives her a lingering kiss. Her lipstick tastes of something sweet. Then she slaps him briskly on the ass and tells him to go

down and play with his computers until dinner’s ready. Brady leaves the cop a brief one-sentence message–I’m going to fuck you up, Grampa. Then he plays Resident Evil until his mother calls him to dinner. The tuna salad is great, and he has two helpings. She actually can cook when she wants, and he says nothing as she pours the first drink of the

evening, an extra-big one to make up for the two or three smaller ones she denied herself that afternoon. By nine o’clock, she’s snoring on the couch again. Brady uses the opportunity to go online and learn all about the upcoming ‘Round Here concert. He watches a YouTube video where a giggle of girls discusses which of the

five boys is the hottest. The consensus is Cam, who sings lead on “Look Me in My Eyes,” a piece of audio vomit Brady vaguely recalls hearing on the radio last year. He imagines those laughing faces torn apart by ball bearings, those identical Guess jeans in burning tatters. Later, after he’s helped his mother up to bed and he’s sure

she’s totally conked, he gets the hamburger, puts it in a bowl, and mixes in two cups of Gopher-Go. If that isn’t enough to kill Odell, he’ll run the goddam mutt over with the ice cream truck. This thought makes him snicker. He puts the poisoned hamburger in a Baggie and stows it back in the mini-

fridge, taking care to hide it behind the cans of soda again. He also takes care to wash both his hands and the mixing bowl in plenty of hot, soapy water. That night, Brady sleeps well. There are no headaches and no dreams about his dead brother.