feet and instead all you do is give her grief. Wade, I'll come help you get her stuff.'
'Shw, I'm not sure if I need any—'
'Oh, shut up. Yes, you do — all her frill y scary women's stuff. After that you can drive me to the gun range.'
'Gun range?' Wade looked at his bro ther.
'I kno w,' Bryan said, ' talk abou t a sure-fire way to screw up a fetus — all those shots'll make the kid deaf. And you should check out the heavy metal content in the air and soil around those ranges. It 's like instant Minamata disease.'
Shw said, 'Florid a is freaking me out. I need firearms to reempo wer myself.'
Both men did a doubl e take: Reempower myself? Curiosity abou t the mother of his future niece or nephew outweighed Wade's reservations. 'Tell you what — I'm parked righ t out here and I'm leaving
righ t away. If you're going to come, then come.' He walked out into the nor th parking lot, brazier hot, and was abou t to reverse out of his slot when Shw opened the door and got in.
'Bryan is such a scaredy-cat.'
Janet's motel wasn' t far away, but it was situated in a realtor's purgatory, neither residential nor upscale retail nor — nor anything really. It looked like a correctional facili ty gone bankrup t and converted into
the most cheerlessly utili tarian of lodging s. 'Jesus, Mom,' said Wade under his breath, ' what a dump.' Wade and Shw got out and went to Janet's room. Once inside, Shw said, 'It 's like time stood still in here.
Can you imagine how many people must have banged away on that matt ress? It looks like a satelli te dish.'
'I'll pack the big clothes,' Wade said. 'You pack the, er, smaller stuff.' 'Her dainties? Ooh, milord is so squeamish.'
'Just pack.'
The suitcases were full in a few minu tes, Shw tossing in the underwear. Wade asked, 'Is it true that you tw o guys met while sett ing fire to a Gap?'
'Yeah. I just wanted to set fire to things and destroy shit.
Bryan was down there because his musician friends were there, and he's such a follo wer that he'd
probably follo w them to Dachau if that's where they were going . But in general? I hate corpor ations. They're fucked. I'd like to blo w them all up, and Bryan, to his credit, probably would, too.'
Wade coughed out a noncommi ttal noise: 'Huh.'
They headed into the bathroom to fetch toiletries. Shw looked at Janet's fiesta of pill s. 'Shit, look at Willy Wonka's factory.' She picked up a bott le and looked at the label. 'It 's not even English.'
Wade said that it didn ' t look like English because it was technical terminolog y. 'It all comes from Latin roo ts.'
'Blow it out your ass. I can out-vocabulary you any day of the week. The label's not in English. It 's in Spanish.'
Wade looked over. 'Portuguese — from Brazil.'
'What's your mother doing with Brazilian drugs?' Wade looked more closely. 'Well, what do you kno w—' 'Know what?'
'Those pill s you're holding .' 'What abou t them?'
'Thalidomid e. I guess Mom's using them for her mou th ulcers.' 'What's so " oh-wow " abou t that?'
'You don ' t kno w what thalidomid e is?' 'No, I don ' t.'
'It 's this drug they used in the early 1960s for morning sickness — but it turned out the stuff caused severe deformi ties in babies — stillbir ths and spon taneous abor tions, too. That's why Sarah only has one hand.
Didn ' t Bryan tell you? Here — let me see that. . .' Wade reached for the bott le, but the blood had drained out of Shw's face. 'What's wrong?'
Shw picked up a full plastic bott le of Evian and began violently bashing Wade on the head and face. 'You moron -you let me touch that shit? Are you out of your mind? How could you do that to me?'
Wade fended off the blo ws, surpri singly powerful for someone of Shw's size. 'I didn ' t even kno w it was
there until you showed me. Shit. Stop that.' Wade grabbed the bott le; Shw was quaking. She ran into the shower stall and hopped in fully clothed, and cranked the faucet at full blast.
Wade asked, 'What's all this abou t?' 'I'm
'Shw, I'm not sure if I need any—'
'Oh, shut up. Yes, you do — all her frill y scary women's stuff. After that you can drive me to the gun range.'
'Gun range?' Wade looked at his bro ther.
'I kno w,' Bryan said, ' talk abou t a sure-fire way to screw up a fetus — all those shots'll make the kid deaf. And you should check out the heavy metal content in the air and soil around those ranges. It 's like instant Minamata disease.'
Shw said, 'Florid a is freaking me out. I need firearms to reempo wer myself.'
Both men did a doubl e take: Reempower myself? Curiosity abou t the mother of his future niece or nephew outweighed Wade's reservations. 'Tell you what — I'm parked righ t out here and I'm leaving
righ t away. If you're going to come, then come.' He walked out into the nor th parking lot, brazier hot, and was abou t to reverse out of his slot when Shw opened the door and got in.
'Bryan is such a scaredy-cat.'
Janet's motel wasn' t far away, but it was situated in a realtor's purgatory, neither residential nor upscale retail nor — nor anything really. It looked like a correctional facili ty gone bankrup t and converted into
the most cheerlessly utili tarian of lodging s. 'Jesus, Mom,' said Wade under his breath, ' what a dump.' Wade and Shw got out and went to Janet's room. Once inside, Shw said, 'It 's like time stood still in here.
Can you imagine how many people must have banged away on that matt ress? It looks like a satelli te dish.'
'I'll pack the big clothes,' Wade said. 'You pack the, er, smaller stuff.' 'Her dainties? Ooh, milord is so squeamish.'
'Just pack.'
The suitcases were full in a few minu tes, Shw tossing in the underwear. Wade asked, 'Is it true that you tw o guys met while sett ing fire to a Gap?'
'Yeah. I just wanted to set fire to things and destroy shit.
Bryan was down there because his musician friends were there, and he's such a follo wer that he'd
probably follo w them to Dachau if that's where they were going . But in general? I hate corpor ations. They're fucked. I'd like to blo w them all up, and Bryan, to his credit, probably would, too.'
Wade coughed out a noncommi ttal noise: 'Huh.'
They headed into the bathroom to fetch toiletries. Shw looked at Janet's fiesta of pill s. 'Shit, look at Willy Wonka's factory.' She picked up a bott le and looked at the label. 'It 's not even English.'
Wade said that it didn ' t look like English because it was technical terminolog y. 'It all comes from Latin roo ts.'
'Blow it out your ass. I can out-vocabulary you any day of the week. The label's not in English. It 's in Spanish.'
Wade looked over. 'Portuguese — from Brazil.'
'What's your mother doing with Brazilian drugs?' Wade looked more closely. 'Well, what do you kno w—' 'Know what?'
'Those pill s you're holding .' 'What abou t them?'
'Thalidomid e. I guess Mom's using them for her mou th ulcers.' 'What's so " oh-wow " abou t that?'
'You don ' t kno w what thalidomid e is?' 'No, I don ' t.'
'It 's this drug they used in the early 1960s for morning sickness — but it turned out the stuff caused severe deformi ties in babies — stillbir ths and spon taneous abor tions, too. That's why Sarah only has one hand.
Didn ' t Bryan tell you? Here — let me see that. . .' Wade reached for the bott le, but the blood had drained out of Shw's face. 'What's wrong?'
Shw picked up a full plastic bott le of Evian and began violently bashing Wade on the head and face. 'You moron -you let me touch that shit? Are you out of your mind? How could you do that to me?'
Wade fended off the blo ws, surpri singly powerful for someone of Shw's size. 'I didn ' t even kno w it was
there until you showed me. Shit. Stop that.' Wade grabbed the bott le; Shw was quaking. She ran into the shower stall and hopped in fully clothed, and cranked the faucet at full blast.
Wade asked, 'What's all this abou t?' 'I'm
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