was no particular reason to lie.
âI tell you, Danny,â said Eric. âThis is a hard world and youâre just too damn young to do the road by yourself. You need somebody looking out for you.â
âWhat he means,â said Tony, âis that heâs thought of a use for you.â
âWell duh,â said Eric. âPitiful kid, and I can say, âGot nothing to feed my kid brother, you spare us a couple of bucks, maâam?â Bet we do okay with that.â
âNot with his clothes looking all new like that,â said Tony.
âWell, heâs going to have to dirty himself up anyway,â said Eric. âHeâs not going to make it far with all his clothes looking new like that.â
Danny looked down at himself. âThey wonât look brand new for very long. And Iâm not going to dirty them up. I could have kept the clothes I came here in if I wanted to look dirty.â
âAny chance you can still lay hands on those clothes?â asked Eric. âI mean, not for wearing now or anything, but so you can change into them when you need to beg.â
âAre you kidding? I donât want to beg.â
âOh, you got a junior executive job in a Fortune 500 company waiting for you in Philadelphia? Atlanta maybe?â
âNo,â said Danny.
âYou donât look big enough to be worth anything at digging ditches,â said Eric. âYou box flyweight? What about tag team wrestling? Or maybe youâre a mechanic for a NASCAR team. Beggingâs how you stay alive on the road, Danny. You too good to beg? You better go home to mommy and daddy.â
âIâve just never done it,â said Danny.
âYou go get those clothes. They far away?â
âBack in the woods.â
âYou go get them,â said Eric. âIâll be here waiting for you. You can keep all this stuff you stole, thatâs good, you must be one hell of a lucky thief to get away with all this on your first try.â
âHow do you know it was my first try?â asked Danny.
Tony hooted. âThe tags? The labels?â
âSo I was lucky,â said Danny. âIâm good at getaways.â
âA useful skill,â said Eric. âBut this is my home town. Donât steal anything more from my home town, get it?â
âGot it,â said Danny.
âI still got a lot of friends here, like Tony. You planning to steal anything from his store?â
âNo,â said Danny.
âGood thing, because then weâd have to beat the crap out of you.â
âIf this is your home town, what do you know about the road?â asked Danny.
âBecause Iâve been on the road since June. Came back for Christmas. Say hi to my mom, tell my dad to eat shit and die.â
âYou already do that?â asked Tony. âCause I donât see any bruises.â
âI left him a note,â said Eric. âAnd besides, heâs not as big as your stepdad. I donât think he could lay a hand on me now. Iâm taller.â
So neither one of these guys felt safe living with their families. Danny wondered how theyâd feel if their family had a Hammernip Hill.
âGo get your clothes,â said Eric. âIâll wait here, and then weâll get us a ride up north. No money for begging around here. But in DC now, thereâs plenty of people with a few bucks for a guy and his kid brother. Youâll see.â
âWhoâs going to give us a ride?â
âSomebody,â said Eric. âYou getting those clothes, little brother, or do I kick the crap out of you?â
âThink you can?â asked Danny, getting into the spirit of the game.
âThink I canât?â said Eric. âMove your butt, little bro. Donât make me wait any longer than the next cigarette.â
So Danny jogged and then ran back around behind Wal-Mart, put back on his discarded shirt and pants,
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