The Wanderers Read Free Page B

gut. "I'll get
you later,
motherfucker!" and vanished. Richie was sitting, dazed, his hands folded over his stomach. Tutti Frutti, one of the Lester Avenue boys, grabbed Richie by the front of his shirt. "Lissen 'ere ... if any a those black cocksuckers ever lay a hand on you again you call us, awright? Awright?"
    "Yes, sir." He felt like a little kid. The only faces Richie saw now were white. The Lester Avenue boys stood around laughing. Three or four of the slower black kids were getting the shit pounded out of them on the broad lawn. In the distance he saw a black kid chased toward the parkway by a crazy guinea who was whooping and hollering, swirling a baseball bat over his head.
     
    "Where the hell were you? I was gonna call your father to go look for you."
    "I had a meetin'." Richie pushed past his mother and went into the kitchen.
    "Don't gimme none a that. I was gonna call the cops in ten minutes."
    "Lay off, Ma."
    "I thought maybe God forbid some a those niggers..."
    "Will you lemme alone? Jesus Christ!" He opened the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of orange soda, and took a long swig.
    "Animal! We all gotta drink from your lips now, hah?" She slapped him on the back of the head.
    He stared at her balefully, belched, and walked out the door with the soda.
    "
Now
where you goin'?" She followed him into the hallway.
    "Over to C's."
    "You ain't back by six you ain't got no dinner ... I don't care." She shrugged.
    "Good."
     
    "Oh, Richie!" C pulled him in from the foyer.
    "Hey, what's happenin'?"
    "I passed my math."
    He offered her a shot of orange soda.
    "
I'll
take some." Dougie came running in and snatched the bottle from his hand. Richie watched almost four inches of the stuff disappear in one gulp. Dougie's white shirt hung out of his pants, and his Holy Rosary School clip-on tie was hanging from one collar. His narrow, freckled imp face was covered with chocolate, and when he finished drinking, his thin lips glistened red. "Whadya starin' at?" Dougie said.
    "When you gonna get braces?" Richie asked. Dougie had front teeth like Bugs Bunny.
    "Fuck you!" Dougie screamed. "If I had a dog with a face like yours I'd shave its ass and teach it to walk backwards!" Dougie was so pissed he had spit on his chin. Richie was serene. "If you had braces you wouldn't spray spit on people."
    "Richie!" C admonished.
    Dougie rushed at Richie, trying to kick him in the balls, but Richie caught his foot and waltzed him around the room in a mad hopping dance. Dougie could only scream in impotent anger. Richie let go, and Dougie fell on his back. "I hope the niggers kicked your ass!" Dougie hissed.
    "What!" Richie grabbed his sticklike arm. "What'd you say?"
    Dougie got scared and clammed up.
    "Richie, let go! You're hurting him." C tried to pull him away, but Richie ignored her.
    "How'd you know about the niggers? I'll break your fuckin' arm, Dougie!"
    Dougie struggled to get loose. Richie saw the white paint on Dougie's fingers. He smiled and twisted Dougie's arm behind his back, whispering in his ear, "Whadya do it for, Dougie?"
    "Leggoleggoleggo, oooh, Denise!"
    "Come across and I'll let you go."
    "Duh-
neese!
"
    "Richie, stop!"
    "Who else did it, Dougie?"
    "Duh-neese!"
    Richie jerked Dougie's twisted arm another two inches.
    "IdiditwithScottie, leggoleggoleggo, puh-leeze!"
    Richie let go. "Scottie Hite?" Dougie got up, rubbing his arm. "Scottie Hite!" Richie repeated. Dougie made a motion for Richie, thought better of it, punched his sister in the tit, and ran into the bathroom locking the door.
     
    After dinner, the Wanderers met in Big Playground.
    "How you feelin', man?"
    "O.K." Richie rubbed his stomach. "Lissen, I found out who did it."
    "Antone?"
    "Nah."
    "Terror?"
    "Nah, you'll never guess ... Dougie Rizzo."
    "Dougie?"
    "Yeah, an' his friend that kid Scottie."
    "Scottie Hite?"
    "Yeah."
    "Jeez, they're like ... ten!"
    "You wanna kick their asses?"
    "Nah ... I got a better idea."
     
    That night Richie and Perry walked