Free The Wanderers by Richard Price Page B

me," said a Del-Bomber.
    "I'm thirsty, anybody wanna get a Coke?" asked Ed Weiss.
    Leaving their street clothes behind, about twenty football players ran after the fans.
    "What the fuck," Eugene said, "let's get the hell outta here." Eugene wanted to run, but bis fear of violence was less than his fear of losing face.
    Joey saw his father and Lenny walking toward them.
    "Let's hang around," he said, feeling a terrible sense of excitement.
    Perry put his cast around Joey's shoulders. "All faggots can go home." Every time Perry started feeling scared he came on louder and braver.
    "What's goin' on?" Lenny looked pretty big and tough. He saw the Ducky Boy nation down the field. "Friends a yours?" Lenny was disappointed and relieved that his younger brother had disappeared.
    About thirty guys were left including Perry, Joey, Richie, Raymond Firestone, Eugene, Buddy, about half the Del-Bombers and half the Stingers.
    "Where's my brother?" Vincent Tasso asked.
    "He split."
    "Goddamn!" Vincent looked hurt.
    Emilio strolled over and took off his coat, displaying a physique that silenced everybody. Joey felt like crying. "Who a' those guys?" Emilio asked with casual disinterest. Nobody answered.
    He shrugged, walked over to a tree, and tore off a fat branch, swinging it lazily. He returned to the group, resting the club on his shoulder. Impressed, Perry winked at Joey. Joey strapped on his helmet and adjusted his shoulder pads. Some guys, imitating Emilio, tore off tree branches. The Ducky Boys were motionless, waiting to see who stayed and who ran. Now they were on the move—almost walking in formation down the field like a marching band. Some of them carried baseball bats, some car aerials, some tire chains. Joey inched closer to his father. Emilio exhaled heavily through his nose and tightened his grip on the club. The football players didn't know whether to fan out or to bunch together, and they started bumping into each other shouting strategies Perry took practice cuts in the air with his cast Joey ran for the trees. He tried to pull off a branch but couldn't snap it loose.
He ran back empty-handed, standing between Perry and his father. Ray Rodriguez stayed because Richie had made a comment about fuckin' nigger cowards when half the Del-Bombers ran for the hills. It didn't seem to make a difference that half the Stingers had suddenly developed a strong thirst about the same time.
    "What the fuck am I doin' here?" asked Lenny.
    "Get 'em, Wolfman!" Perry laughed.
    When the Ducky Boys got to midfield, they broke rank and charged, swinging everything they had. The football players were outnumbered five to one, but Ducky Boys came small. Emilio ran to meet them and swung his branch in someone's face. A fountain of blood arched from the kid's nostrils, spraying Emilio's arms. Emilio plowed through five or six Ducky Boys before someone got him from behind with a baseball bat, and he went down thrashing under a sea of foaming rats.
    Twelve Ducky Boys tried to jump Perry and Lenny because they were the biggest. Perry swung his cast like the jawbone of an ass, piling up bodies at his feet. Lenny grabbed a Ducky Boy by the legs and used him as a club, swinging him face-first into the attackers.
    Joey, inspired by Emilio and fear, was doing O.K. for a little guy until he saw his father go down. Then he got hit in the face with the tip of a car aerial—a curtain of skin and blood blinding him. Perry saw Joey go down, and bellowing in anger, he waded through Ducky Boys, smashing bones and heads until his cast was red. He peeled Ducky Boys off Joey, yanking him to his feet and shoving him toward the safety of the woods. But Joey couldn't see and walked right into a waiting Ducky Boy and went down again under a flurry of kicks and punches. Perry grabbed the Ducky Boy and rammed his head into a tree. His cast shattered, and the pain from his throbbing wrist made him cry.
    Raymond Firestone, a Golden Gloves boxer, was having an easy time until