volume one IN THE D U D L E Y C L A R K - Ohio Vine Tours

The ones Rick is going through.
“Sure,” responds Roy, nervous about Rick pawing his tunes.
“What the fuck’s this shit?”
Debi, good as her word, furnishes Roy with a plastic bag
emblazoned with the store’s logo.
Strangely, the logo is not a smile.
“Fuckit, man—this is crap.”
Roy scoops up his CDs and drops them into the bag.
“Thanks.”
“No—thank you!”
Debi bounces up and down a few times in her brilliant white
running shoes, causing her breasts to romp and cavort.
Rick’s beady eyes follow her sporting breasts with vulpine
interest. He appears to be on the verge of saying something
doubtlessly vile and disgusting when Roy rolls his bag closed and
skedaddles.
Rick, immediately erasing Debi’s jug jamboree from his
thoughts—she is, after all, just another bitch—scurries after his
bro, pushing through the door behind him.
“Hey! Yo! Bro—what the fuck you up to?”
Roy’s long-legged stride lengthens.
Rick races to catch up.
“Don’t fuckin’ run away from me, asshole! I’ll cut you a new
one right here in Freakland!”
As if he’s hit an invisible wall, Roy stops. Redfaced, wheezing
from the mad dash, he turns to face his brother.
“It’s just. A birthday gift’s all. For my. Neighbor.”
Roy hates lying, but figures lying to Rick is OK because, with
him, it’s an act of survival.
“Birthday gift?” Rick furrows his little brow. “Since when’d
you start having fuckin’ friends?”
They stand in the middle of the sidewalk. Grumbling
pedestrians detour around them.
“Recently.”
Rick narrows his beady eyes.
The fact that Roy may have a friend makes Rick
apprehensive, Another influence might weaken his control.
222 ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY