Piercings

Football

So what's up with the game tonight? Cancelled? Jets/Chargers. Monday night and no football. Weird.

Cow Tipping

At about ten this morning a wind came through. Must've been lookin' for somebody, cause it was in an awful hurry. Bad manners too. Knocked our porch swing over. I heard it thud against the rail. O.B. yells up at me to go set it straight. Like I'm gonna run into the storm and stand her back up. But he kept hollering, you know? Holler, holler. I'm thinking it'd be better to get killed in the storm than to hear him keep it up so I get off my bed and make for the door. But I turn, don't know why but I turn, and look out the window and at that very second I see one of Sever's cows. Big old cow. Whap!. A gust knocked her flat on her side. Never seen a cow tipped like that before. That was some wind.

Father's Day

Didn't seem dumb at the time. Sometimes I wake up feeling good, like nice, you know? Like maybe I should at least try and pretend. Today was like that. So this morning I went down and waited around, did stuff with Lane and Mom. O.B. got up around noon. Guy was out late last night. I tried to say it right. Say it normal. I opened my mouth and jerked and tried to say what every other kid in Pierce says today. 

"Spit it out." O.B. stares at my big, dumb, hanging-open mouth.

I peek at Mom--she looks all worried.

"Happy Father's Day, Bill." I say. "Anything special you want?"

He don't blink. "Yeah. I want to not see that twitchy face of yours all day." He turns to Mom. "Lunch on?"

I gave him what he wanted. What I wanted. The whole conversation doesn't sit as cute and cuddly as a Hallmark, but it's probably for the best. Least I said the words. Gotta count for something.  

Is there anything you know for sure?

I'm just curious.

Old Coot

Saw Old Coot today. From the back. Well his truck, anyway. That brown Ford? Happened around 5 am, middle of my morning run. He and the Loser were taking off, probably for the Cities. Don't really know where the guy goes. Nobody does. Jace says he's the one that killed Davey. Don't figure that's right since they found him floating in Lake Mille Lacs, but you can't be too sure about Coot. Enough people say enough stuff about somebody, something's gotta be true, right? And he always hangs out with the drifters, the ones O.B. wants to flat out shoot.

So I saw him head out, figure he got back before tonight's storm.

Thing is he sticks in my mind like gum. People rip him I want to stand and shout and defend the guy. Never said one word to the town crazy and I want to defend him. What's that about? 

Well, guess every town's gotta Coot. Or maybe should. 

New Girl

Don't know what it is about some people, why I hear 'em talk one time and I want to stuff a pitted out t-shirt in their trap. The new girl's like that. Took five seconds. I saw her, thought, she's pretty and all that, and just started the why-in-the-world-would-someone-like-that-move-to-Mitrista thought, when her mouth fell open. I tell you it stayed open for fifteen minutes before she breathed. I know more about her than I do about O.B.

By the time she hit the brakes on her rant, she was queen. None of he locals had much to brag about anymore, and her little circle of blond poodles followed her around the rest of the day.

Think she only saw me once, saw my shoulder jump one time, which is good, cause her tongue's sharp and her brain's quick and if she sees she'll rip me to shreds. She said she's stuck in Hicksville, which is her name for my home. She's probably right. So tonight I flipped on American Idol, the dumbest show on TV, and watched some kid named David who gotta be younger than me make it to the round of three while the crowd went nuts.

New girl probably watched it too. Wonder if that little David guy is a hick. Probably not. He don't twitch either.

Dead Bear

I saw a dead bear cub this morning on my run. Wasn't there yesterday so it hasn't been dead long. Cute thing. Bunch of hawks circled overhead. I stopped and stood there. Didn't seem right to let it get all picked at. I know it was dead and all, but some dead things sorta don't feel dead, or at least they don't feel like they should be dead. That make any sense? Probably not. Anyway, I figured Mama bear would be along soon so I didn't stay, but I can't stop thinking about that cub.

Hello out there

Okay, there are what, eight bazillion people on the web and not one of you reads a thing I write. That's okay, I mean, its not like I have much for you. Um, first deer tick of the year today. Makes you want to tell all your friends, doesn't it?

If there's really nobody out there, why do people blog? Just to vent all over the world? Cheap therapy, that's it. Or maybe you need a life, or you have to graduate high school. Or maybe you need to leave Pierce and O. B. before anyone bothers to peek.

I wonder if She reads blogs. Probably not. Probably She's too busy with some him, or maybe
She's running. Which I'd like better. Which reminds me, I missed my own run this morning. Better get out there before O. B gets home. Later.

I Hate April Snow

Sorry it's been so long since I've written. See it snowed. That's no big deal, except this is April snow. That's different than January snow. That stuff is fluffy and light, so when Old Bill starts screaming "Shovel that walk! Hey, Jerky, Shovel that walk," I'm thinkin', why did I give Her my parka? I'm just worried about the cold, you know?

But this April snow is wet and heavy and if you have a wimpy neck it'll blop on your head and knock it off. It's that heavy-shovel bustin' heavy. If O. B. wasn't so cheap, he'd buy a blower, but he has me, right? The day I leave he'll buy one.

The day I leave. . ..

April Fool's Day

So Jace sits in Trig today and snaps dimes. Mr. Hughes is all scribbly on the board trying to make letters and numbers make sense together and those little torpedos tink off the green, roll around on the floor. He pretends not to notice, like this happens everyday--dimes magically explode out of his chalkboard and roll around the room. He finally slams his chalk into the tray, squints and hacks through the plume of chalk dust (he's allergic or something), and yells, "Carrier!"

I couldn't flick a dime if I wanted to. Some dumb twitch would send the thing doinking off the ceiling or maybe off Heather's head, if I'm lucky.

"Yeah?" I say, all innocent like. I'm twitching in Jace's direction, but Hughes doesn't see it, he's still squinting.

"Out of here. Now!" I pick up my Trig book and make it to the door. That's when I turn, angry and innocent and jumpy like a kangaroo. I'm gonna say something. Let Hughes have it. Let him know it's not always me who screws up in this dumb class.

I open my mouth, but slap it shut. Another dime flies through the air, catches Hughes smack on the forehead. It must be greasy there cause it hangs a second, glints in the florescent lights, then falls to the ground. Hughes looks at me. He knows I didn't do it, knows I couldn't have. He knows the idiot that's been tormenting him is still laughing it up in the seats. But he's gone too far. He's fingered me. And he's too proud to admit it.

"Detention tonight, Sam." His voice is quiet, embarrassed. He looks at me like he's trying to apologize and nail me at the same time.

I nod, glance at Jace, who tongues the inside of his cheek. Another April Fools Day at Mitrista High.