Free Creeps by Darren Hynes Page A

idiots,” Bobby says.
    Kenny’s there now too, hardening a snowball. Harvey comes and stands beside Kenny and says to Pete, “He does, thinks he’s smarter than us.”
    â€œDoes he now?” The Meat says. Then to Bobby, “Get off him.”
    â€œJust a minute longer, Pete,” Bobby says.
    â€œGet off, I said!”
    Bobby does, then takes his place alongside the others. “Fucker owes me a tooth.”
    â€œFuckin’ rights,” Kenny says.
    Wayne sits up.
    Pete The Meat leers down at him. Arms folded. No mitts. Knuckles the size of scallops. “Take all the back trails you want, Pumphrey. There’s no place I can’t find you.”
    Wayne goes to stand, but Pete knocks him backdown with the toe of his boot. Laughs. “You’re weaker than a girl, Pumphrey. I almost feel bad.”
    â€œKick him in the face, Pete,” Bobby says.
    Pete shakes his head. “Naw, no kicking. He’s going to get what was meant for him the other day.” The Meat turns to Kenny. “You ready?”
    Kenny holds up his snowball. “Fuckin’ rights.”
    â€œHold ’em steady,” Pete says to Harvey and Bobby. Both boys go over and stand Wayne up and grab his arms.
    Kenny finds a spot no more than six feet away. Digs in his heels. Rounds the snowball despite its being round already. Gives a look to Pete.
    The Meat unfolds his arms. “Hold still, Pumphrey, this won’t take a minute.”
    Wayne looks off in the distance. Not a soul.
    Pete says, “Girlfriend’s not coming this time, Pumphrey. Got tied up at the butcher.”
    Kenny laughs, but no one else seems to get the joke. Then Wayne says, “It’s her body now, isn’t it? What’s it to any of you what she does with it!”
    No one moves.
    A kind of quiet then that reminds Wayne of early morning when it’s still dark and everyone is sleeping and his dad is pacing the driveway waiting for the company bus to take him to the mine and how can his father live in a full house yet look like the loneliest man on earth?
    A finger is jabbing into his chest. Pete’s finger, although it feels more like the tip of a screwdriver. And The Meat’s smiling and nodding his head and saying, “I get it now, Pumphrey.” He looks back at the others. “Get it, boys?”
    Kenny keeps hardening his snowball and Harvey shrugs and Bobby says, “Get what, Pete?”
    The Meat shakes his head. “Pumphrey finally got his dicky bird wet, idiot.”
    Kenny laughs and Harvey groans and Bobby sticks his own finger down his throat to hide his envy.
    The Meat breathes StarKist on Wayne and says, “What’s she like, Pumphrey?”
    Wayne says nothing.
    â€œStuck it in the wrong hole, I bet,” says Kenny. “
    Either that or he blew his wad before he could get it in,” goes The Meat.
    Bobby says, “Probably did it in his shorts, eh, Pete?”
    The Meat nods. “That what happened, Pumphrey? You jizz in your sister’s panties—”
    â€œFuck off!”
    Who said that? Harvey? Kenny? Probably Kenny. Although it could have been The Meat. The first word Pete learned probably, Wayne thinks, before jail and punch . Why is everyone staring? Does Bobby’s mouth usually hang open wide enough to see the cavities in his back molars? And The Meat’sface … it’s never that red, is it? Kenny has just dropped his snowball and is not bothering to pick it back up. What’s Harvey saying: something about being dead because no one tells The Meat to fuck off and lives. Now Bobby’s repeating what Harvey has just said and it suddenly occurs to Wayne that it was he himself who said it and he wonders how a person can say something without thinking about it. Then The Meat comes forward and he’s got his arms raised like he’s ready to fight and Wayne shuts his eyes because it’s better not to look sometimes and