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watery and I get itchy.”
    “Sounds like you’re suppressing something,” she said.
    “Yeah,” Johnny said, “like his little happy hard-on.”
    “More like my whole fuckin’ life,” I said.
    As they laughed, the doorbell rang.
    “Well, look who’s here,” Darcy said as he walked into the kitchen. He had a bottle of Jack Daniels in his right hand and a case of beer inhis left. He had his eyes on Johnny, and the way he was gripping that bottle you could tell he was itching to scrap.
    Johnny stood up, his face flushed. His hands were fists and he stood his ground.
    I stood up too and walked towards Darcy. Juliet was behind him, saying something I couldn’t hear.
    Darcy stopped when he saw me. A smile crept across his face.
    “Oh yeah, the kid,” he said. “How’s it going, Lare?” he asked. I took the case and the bottle from him and put them on the table, then shook the beefy hand he held out. I could tell by his breath and sleepy eyes that he’d been drinking for a while.
    “Not too shabby,” I answered. “Scoop?”
    He eyed Johnny over my shoulder. “Just looking for a shaker.”
    “Well, there’s the dance at the hall tonight.”
    “Naw,” he said. “Can’t, got barred for being rowdy. ”
    Juliet put her hand on Darcy’s shoulder, and he limped back into the porch. His chunky ass under those sweat pants rippled. I turned and sat down. My armpits were dripping sweat and my knees were shaking. I was quite surprised I had stood up and done something.
    “Man,” I said. “That was close.”
    Johnny looked at me and said, “The hell was that all about?”
    “That?” I answered. “Darcy gave me a concussion last year. I could have pressed charges but decided against it.”
    “Well, thanks for telling me.” Johnny scoffed. “You and Thumper—bum buddies ...”
    “Johnny,” I sliced, “if it wasn’t for me, you two would be toe to toe right now, and I bet he’d be kicking your ass.”
    Johnny winced, so I continued. “You may have taken him in round one, but he’s got some booze in him. Believe me, when he’s drinking, he feels no pain. Right now I bet he’s running on pure adrenaline. I seen him once take on two of the Mercier boys when he was loaded. He damn near kicked their heads in.”
    “Fuck.”
    “Yup,” I said. “Now why do you call him Thumper?”
    “That, little buddy,” he said, “is something you’ll hear about soon enough.” Johnny messed up my hair and we watched some more TV. Juliet and Darcy talked for a long time on the porch. I was pretty scared that Darcy’d try something with Johnny, but at the same time I wanted to talk to him. I’d be a liar if I told you he didn’t scare me, but something about guys like Darcy always intrigued me. I knew he had had his share of drugs, booze and fights. He was everything I wasn’t. He was bad news, but still...
    “Yo, Lare!” Darcy called out.
    I went into the kitchen. Juliet walked past me, heading for Johnny. Darcy was standing by the stove and he waved me over. I noticed right away that the stove elements were bright red. My first thought was that he was going to burn me, the next that he wanted a tattoo, and third, that he wanted to get his ear pierced.
    “You know what hot-knifing is?” he asked, holding two knives in his left hand and a beer in his right.
    “No, Darce, can’t say that I do.”
    “You ever do drugs before?”
    “Nope.”
    “You wanna?” he said, a grin widening across his face.
    Every fibre in my body, every molecule, every atom was screaming no, but instead I said, “Sure.”
    Van Halen boomed on the stereo and a light went out in the house.
    “All right! !” he said, smiling like a Buddha. He slapped me on the back and reassured me that tonight was going to be great.
    “Go into the bathroom and get me a roll of toilet paper.”
    I did. There was one roll with hardly any paper left on it, so I took that one. Darcy, upon seeing my pick, grunted, “Sure you ain’t done this