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

“I’m tapped. I need some green. I can get us a window
washing gig but, no, you won’t work, you’re so fuckin’ loaded.
Well, you’re keeping me from makin’ money, bro, and that’s like
stealin’ from me—you fuckin’ owe me.”
Roy stares at his brother’s slicked-back hair.
“No, I don’t.”
This kind of thing pisses Rick off.
“Yes, you. You fuckin’ do, asshole! Don’t you dare say shit like
that to me! Now—either I go to your house and take it from you,
or you bring it to me at Mel’s. Which is it?”
Roy puffs out his fuzzy cheeks.
He tried.
“How much you need?”
Rick backs off some. Smugness creeps onto on his face.
“That’s more like it. I want—half.”
“Half?”
Roy is aghast. If he gives his brother half, he won’t make it
through the winter.
Now that he’s spent $188.97.
A wave of regret washes over him.
If only he had stayed home, not baked a lasagna, not been
born.
Rick jabs him in the chest with a finger.
“Half.” He continues to jab. “And if I find out you’re holding
out on me—”
With his free hand he removes his switchblade and snicks it
open.
Right there in the middle of Broadway Ave!
Roy sucks in his breath.
Is he about to die?
Is this the end of Roy’s Adventures in Wonderland?
He knows his brother could ice him and walk away like he
just bought frozen yoghurt and people would step over his body
until some cop kicked him to wake his ass up then piss and moan
about getting blood on his spit-polished shoe.
But—half ?
The look on Roy’s face is priceless. Certainly to Rick worth
the price of the knife.
22 ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY