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have a dumb hick for a brother.”
    â€œHi, Lisa.”
    â€œJason got his girlfriend pregnant!”
    â€œ What? ”
    â€œYep. He can waste a year in college and end up with only six credits and they don’t bat an eye, but this, my friend, has rocked the house.”
    â€œWhat’s he going to do?”
    â€œWell, he actually wants to ‘settle down.’ As in get married, get a job at a gas station or whatever, and become a dad. But my parents are hinting around at a whole nother course of action.”
    â€œMeaning…”
    â€œOne guess, Einstein.”
    â€œThey suggested it outright?”
    â€œSuggested it? They offered to pay for it!”
    â€œWell, what about his girlfriend? Doesn’t Stacey have a say in this? It’s her body, after all.”
    â€œThat’s what I told my parents! I got that leave-the-room look they give me whenever the crisis is about Jason and not me. God forbid we ever both get into trouble at the same time.”
    â€œWhen have you ever been in trouble?”
    â€œHello? Last summer? The Nude Descending the Monkey Bars shoot I did of Taylor Markson?”
    â€œOh, yeah. I’m still waiting for my copies of that, by the way.”
    â€œWon’t happen. Taylor made me promise, and my parents confiscated the negatives. Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see how this whole thing plays out, because I don’t think Stacy’s that into Jason, but I think she is into keeping the baby. So what’s up with you?”
    â€œNot much. Chores, mainly.”
    â€œAre we still going to hang out at my place this afternoon?”
    â€œDefinitely. I’ll call before I come over.”
    â€œI’ll be the one without the pregnant girlfriend.”
    They hung up, and he rechecked his list. He’d savedthe worst for last: the hedges. The front and back yards of the house were shared by all the tenants, but the landlord shaved thirty dollars off the rent for Garth to take care of basic outside maintenance, including the grass and the hedges. The grass was easy, just a few swipes with the mower, since there was almost no yard to speak of. But the hedges that lined both sides of the yard were a pain—especially in the dead heat of summer. He descended into the musky, cobwebbed basement and took the hedge clippers from the nail next to the fuse box. He was coming back up when he heard Mike’s voice through the kitchen window: “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Stu. I talked to Marty, and he’s going to have a money order in the mail within a month. Well, that was the arrangement made between Marty and Phil, so maybe you should talk to Marty yourself. He seemed fine with it, last I heard. Yeah. Talk to him. Talk to Phil, if you want. I’m sticking to what we agreed on. All right. Yeah, yeah, I got it. Later.”
    Garth hesitated next to the window and peeked in. His uncle was punching another number into his cell phone.
    â€œMarty? It’s Mike…. Mike Rudd, who do you think?…It doesn’t matter where I am. Listen, you know that juggling we talked about? Does Phil know about it? Well, you might want to do some fast footworkbecause Stu’s going to be calling you, and if he can’t get hold of you, there’s a good chance he’s going to be calling Phil directly…. Hey, the juggle was your idea…. Yes, it was…. Well, maybe my memory’s better than yours. Anyway, I’m out of the loop at this stage—well, I’m practically out of the loop. You know what I mean. The point is, you should be expecting a call from Stu and you might want to head it off at the pass. Listen, I’ve got to go. I’ll be in touch, okay?”
    Mike sounded more like a loan shark than a gambler. Garth was curious but thought it best not to ask. He ducked under the window and carried the clippers out into the yard.
    He’d worked three-quarters of the way around the