Wire Mesh Mothers Read Free Page B

them cows thought we was just a bunch of bitin ' flies when we hit their butts with them bb’s? We drew blood! Think them folks thought the tooth fairy took their mail to Never-Never Land?"
    " Bitin ’ flies!" giggled DeeWee . “Cows thought we was bitin ’ flies!”
    Tony scoffed, “Think Little Joe's boots is baby? Huh? I’ll give you baby. That b.b . gun. Like that little kid in that movie they been showin ’ over and over on channel 45. He wanted a bb gun for Christmas. Oh, ain’t he just so bad, now? Asked Santa for the gun."
    "You saying I got this gun from Santa?" said Leroy. He pulled off his sunglasses. His dark, snowman eyes looked even darker.
    “You ain't making sense," said Whitey tentatively.
    "And you pissin ' me off," said Leroy. "Ain't nothing I can't hit with my bb gun. I can take off your pimply nose with it. I can take out your whole face if I wanted to, whiny baby. Bang-bang-bang, out like a star at the carnival shooting gallery. Nothing left but that shitty haircut on top your scalp."
    "Don't ever call me whiny baby," Tony said.
    Leroy popped open the door. A tiny piece of cotton blew in on a breeze. "You want out right now, Tony? I’ll pull your ass over the seat and throw you out. Thought you was cool like a guy, Tony. You just whiny like a brat."
    “Whiny little brat,” said Buddy.
    "Who asked you into this?" Tony knocked Buddy's cap off and yanked a fistful of hair from his scalp. Blood beaded on the raw flesh. Buddy yelped and grabbed his head.
    "Hold your tongue," Tony said. "Or I’ll pull that out, too!” She threw the hair into Buddy’s lap. Some still clung to her fingers and she wiped it off on Buddy’s headrest. Whimpering, Buddy held the wad of hair to his head as if he might be able to put it back.
    “Listen to me, everybody,” said Tony. “We should be doin ’ big stuff. Real stuff. Or we should just go back to suckin ’ Mama’s titties for all the good we are.”
    “Like what stuff?"
    “I been thinkin ’ about a robbery.”
    Leroy blew air through his teeth. “Big deal, Tony. We steal stuff all the time.”
    “Not like that. Not stealing. Robbin ’. There’s a difference, case you didn’t know. Show the firepower. Rob ‘em blind. Leave our mark on something besides cow asses."
    “Arm robbery! Steal a arm!” laughed DeeWee .
    “Who we gonna rob?” said Whitey. “There ain’t nothin ’ around here. And we ain’t got no cars that could make it all the way to Richmond or over to Portsmouth."
    Tony felt the blood stir in the backs of her hands. Hot, cold. Hot, cold. That new nigger at the Exxon would shit her lacy little drawers. Out the dirty window dry grasses strummed the air and the clouds boiled in the white sky; Tony could smell the shit and the sweat. “It’ll be the best,” she said. “Stick 'em up! Hand it over! Money in the bag, now, you stupid bitch!”
    “What bitch?” said Leroy.
    "’Possum!" shouted DeeWee .
    A scraggly opossum had appeared on the roadside gravel. It waddled into some brush near the car.
    Tony’s head was itching again, and she fought to keep her hand from scratching. “Bitch at a bank,” she said with a shrug, not caring to share her personal vendetta with the other Hot Heads because it didn’t matter. She’d kill two birds with one stone with the robbery she had planned. “Bitch at the store, the gas station, whatever, crying, ‘Oh, help me help me! Lord save me! Take what you want and leave me alone!’ Fucking pussies.”
    Little Joe's booted foot slipped down onto Tony's and she slammed it back with a kick so hard to his shin she could hear the denim rip. Little Joe grimaced but made no sound.
    “Well,” said Buddy. He looked at Leroy for direction.
    “Well, well, well,” giggled DeeWee .
    Leroy pulled the passenger door shut. He rubbed his mouth. “You know,” he said. “Ain’t too bad a idea, even if I didn’t come up with it myself.”
    “A good idea?” said Buddy. “Sure, we just get our