Dead Stars by Bruce Wagner Page A

boy stood at the lectern in coat and tie saying he/they killed men, women and children, even members of their own families. Rikki was more interested in what he had to say than she was, which was actually an understatement, it looked like Rikki was
obsessed,
studying
the fellow. Man-boy crush time. Rikki & his friends were enjoying hearing about the drugs & the killing, and how this fellow—his name was Ishmael—never even had to go to jail. He wrote a book about it instead that made him rich & famous and now he worked for the U.N. Ishmael went on to say that there were other (former) childsoldiers, all his rehabilitated homies, who now lived in Seattle or wherever, pursuing careers in rap.
    . . .
    Afterschool, Reeyonna and her girlfriends kicked it at the house, & smoked purp.
    â€“ Did you know about Laurence Fishburne’s daughter?
    â€“ I can’t remember who Laurence Fishburne is. In my head.
    â€“ He’s an actor. Lemme use your phone.
    â€“ No—I have it. Oh! Yeah! He’s on
CSI
?
    â€“ But not anymore.
    â€“ He was in
The Matrix——
    â€“ That is one
ug-guh-lee
nigga.
    â€“ He is
not.
I think he’s
hot.
    â€“ You think
Steve Tyler
is hot.
    â€“ His money is.
    â€“ Money makes the man.
    â€“
M-m-m-money on my mind, money on my mind . . .
    â€“ Youngmoney cashmoney.
    â€“ Who’s that actor with the eye—the freaky eye—
    â€“ Forest Whitaker.
    â€“ Shit, you gotta a
lot
of information in your head, girl.
    â€“ I think his daughter used to go to John Burroughs. I think she was a senior when we were freshmen.
    â€“
So
much information.
    â€“ Forest Whitaker is
really
good. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor.
    â€“ Really?!?!
    â€“ What was Laurence Fishburne in?
The Purple Mile? Shawshank Whatever?
    â€“ Hahahaha! It’s
Green Mile!
Hahaha!
    â€“ She’s got purp on the brain.
    â€“
The Purp Mile . . .
    â€“ That’s funny.
    â€“
The Color Purp—
hahahahahahaha!
    â€“ The color perp-walk.
    â€“ I
loved The Color Purple
.
    â€“ Yeah well now you’re lovin the color
.
    â€“ Isn’t that a Prince song?
Purp Rain.
Ahahahahahahaha.
    â€“ Was Whoopi in that, or Oprah?
    â€“ Whoopi wasn’t in
Purple Rain
.
    â€“ I love her on
The View
.
    â€“ This shit is
strong.
I am
so stoned . . .
    â€“ Yeah it’s good.
No sticks, no seeds, just Al Green . . .
    â€“
That purp, that bomb, that kush—
    â€“ Psycho
denk . . .
    â€“ I never saw
The Matrix
.
    â€“ Netflix it, girl. Stream on. Get on it.
    â€“ It’s kind of like
Inception.
    â€“ No, you can’t instant it, it’s only on DVD.
    â€“ O bullshit. Really?
    â€“ No, look—see?
    â€“ I totally watched that on my phone last week. Totally!!!
    â€“ Can someone tell me what the fuck a
Blu-ray
is?!?!
    â€“ I didn’t like
Inception
. I hate that girl Natalie Portman.
    â€“
Oh my God, you are so stoned.
    â€“ That’s not Natalie Portman! It was the girl who played the pregnant girl—
    â€“ from Canada?
    â€“
Juno . . .
    â€“ I loved that movie! What’s her name?
    â€“ Ellen! Ellen Page.
    â€“ Look—she’s from Halifax. Nova Scotia.
    â€“ Can I see?
    â€“ Oooh she’s pretty.
    â€“
I
want to be from Nova Scotia, I
love
Nova Scotia—
    â€“ Oh my God, she’s like
twenty-five
.
    â€“ Really? I can’t believe she’s so old!
    â€“ It says 1987. February 21.
    â€“ That’s my brother’s birthday!
    â€“ She looks so young. She’s one of those women who will look exactly the same until they’re, like, seventy.
    â€“
Natalie Portman!
ReeRee is fucked up. You saw
Juno
, didn’t you, Ree?
    â€“ She gets pregnant while she’s in high school?
    â€“ Um, gee, doesn’t that sound familiar?
    â€“ But she’s really
responsible
about it. I mean it’s
so
not
Teen Mom
. She is so not psycho white