PIGGS - A Novel with Bonus Screenplay

PIGGS - A Novel with Bonus Screenplay by Neal Barrett Jr Page B

Book: PIGGS - A Novel with Bonus Screenplay by Neal Barrett Jr Read Free Book Online
Authors: Neal Barrett Jr
Tags: General Fiction
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  Cat Eye thought about a pie.   A chocolate or a peach.   Grape thought about a drink.   Cecil thought about Gloria Mundi.   Thought about her in a going-out dress, a dress that fits good, like you see in a ladies' magazine.   Thought about her in an apron, cooking something nice.   Remembered her coffee, decided to think of something else.
    What he thought about most, was whether he ought to be doing this at all.   Messing with the help is no good.   Even if you own the place, you're asking for trouble right off.   The guy runs the bar, he's going to steal a little more.   Even the guy sweeps up, he's sore because everybody else is sore, too.
    The dancers, Jesus, that's the worst of all.   A person of the stripper persuasion is strung out to start.   Piss 'em off, and they'll drive you fucking nuts.
    Gloria Mundi, Cecil thinks, is a bad idea.   Slap her around, do what you want to do.   Do that, she's out the door fast.   Wait her out, be nice, she maybe comes around.   Then what?   Then you got to buy her shit, take her into town.
    Whatever you do, it'll turn out wrong.   Cecil knows that, he's done it all before.   He also knows he is wasting time thinking about it, he knows he's going to do it all again.
     
    C ecil is sitting in the back.   Cat Eye's driving, Grape is in the front.   Cecil looks at the back of Cat's head.   He looks at the back of Cat's head maybe five, six times a day.   Cat's neck is very thick.   It has seven folds of fat.   Cat shaves his head close, right down to the skin.   And even if there isn't any hair up there, Cat has dandruff anyway.   Little flakes falling on his shirt, on the seat behind his back.
    Cecil's used to that, he sees it all the time.   But this is not an ordinary day.   It's six in the morning, he's been up all night.   He didn't get laid, all he did was climb a tree.   His face is on fire.   His face gets worse when he's mad.   It burns like someone's dropping kitchen matches on his skin.
    I feel like shit, I gotta sit and look at that, Cecil thinks,   I gotta look at Cat's head.
    "Stop," Cecil says, poking Cat in the back, "stop the fucking car.   Stop at the 7-Eleven store."
    "Gotcha," Cat says.
    The store is maybe half a mile away.   Cat pulls in.   The store is bright with cold fluorescent light.   A million crickets are bouncing off the windows outside.
    Grape turns around.   "What you need, Cecil, what you want me to get?"
    "I don't want you to do nothing," Cecil says.   "Cat, go in the store.   Get some Head 'n Shoulders.   Get me a Coke.   Get me a Snickers, better make it two."
    "I'd like some Fritos," Grape says.   "See if they got a Big Red."
    "Get it yourself," Cecil says, "don't be asking him.   I don't remember he's in your employ, I think he works for me."
    "Right," Grape says, and doesn't look at Cecil again.
    Cecil gets out.   The windows on the Caddie are tinted, and he squints in the sudden morning light.   Reaches in the pocket of his overalls, puts on his shades.   He can smell the coffee they're making inside.   Maybe he'll have a coffee too.   Maybe get a doughnut.   You can get a good doughnut or a roll, you get there early before they're all gone.
    Two little black kids are making wide circles on the drive, running over crickets with their bikes.   They are seven or eight, maybe thirteen.   Cecil can't tell.   Nigger-rap T-shirts, worn-out jeans.   Brand new basketball shoes, bigger than either kid's head.   When the tires get a cricket, they make an awful sound.
    Cat Eye comes out.   He's chewing on a donut, sugar all over his mouth.
    "They didn't have a Snickers," Cat says, "I had to get a Mars."
    "I don't want a Mars, I want a Snickers," Cecil says.
    "They didn't have none."
    "You didn't look."
    "They hadda Milky Way and Mars, that's all they got."
    "They got a Hershey with nuts, why'nt you get that?"
    "You said a Snickers.   You said, get me a Snickers and a Coke."
    "Fuck it, gimme

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