Even the kids on the bus who used to be
“Ah, that’s bull.”
my friends in elementary school mostly ignore
“You’d never have the balls to do that!”
me. Man, what happened to when we played
“I might someday.”
flag football together, and caught crawdads in
“Ha! They’d carve you up and eat you for
the stream? Vandergriff made his way down the aisle. He was a tenth-grader. “What you think you’re doing, flipping me off, Sirhan?”
barbeque.” “You’re so full of shit, your eyes are brown.” ‘Hey, you’re the one that’s brown,
Sirhan.”
He was about twice my size and played offensive tackle. He jumped into the empty seat next to me, grabbed me around the neck, and began rubbing the top of my head forcefully with his knuckles. He did that to lots of junior-schoolers, just friendlier to some. As the bus veered onto Ninth Street, he reached over me and pressed his head against the window. “You know what they call this street in Chicago?” “How would you know?” “Big Nine,” he said, proud of himself. “Yeah?” “Because of all the partying and fucking that goes on in those clubs.” “People in Chicago don’t give a fat rat’s ass what happens in this town.” Fat rat’s ass, that was one of Roman’s favorite phrases. “Yeah, that’s what you think. You ask anyone down there and they’ll tell you, Big Nine is known all over the country. See that club there, The Satin Doll? I’ve been in there.”
Vandergriff, he’s why I blew Roman off the day I got grounded and walked by myself to Ninth Street. I know I could be as good a player as Vandergriff. He’s just a fat lard of a lineman; I’m fast enough and have the hands to be a halfback. Not my fault my parents won’t let me play. I walked kind of fast, I got to be honest, because I felt totally out of place. The first group of men I passed said nothing, but I could feel them stare. I passed a man wearing a black felt hat with a red feather stuck in it and a sleeveless white tee shirt. He was really muscular. His skin glowed. He slowed down as I approached. Then he snickered. A woman at the doorway he just came from leaned against the side and looked me up and down. She was large, almost like a statue, not a hair on her head out of place, but was wearing very white shorts with a wide belt. I stopped and asked her if she could point me to The Satin Doll. “You really lookin’ for the Satin Doll, cutie?”
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