Kobe by Christopher S McLoughlin Read Free Book Online Page A

the blowjob Karen Cummings.' Below it was signed 'Tommy Doyle'.
                  Tommy Doyle was an asshole that only picked on kids smaller than him. Karen was a lovely intelligent girl whose only crime was being smarter than the reckless bully, and for that, he drew nasty pictures all over town and spread rumors of sexual conquests.
                  Hunter and Judd crawled out of Playboy Tunnel and climbed to the top of a cliff. The drop was about fifty feet into Shit Creek, named on account of the tunnel dumping waste runoff into it. It didn't smell like shit, or look dirtier than other lakes in Ohio, kids just thought it was a clever name. The boys, hell, half the neighborhood, swam in it from time to time. Everyone wore their shoes though, nothing's worse than the soft, turd-like mud sliding between your toes.
                  At the top of the cliff, Hunter shook out two stolen cigarettes and handed one to Judd.
                  They lit up and looked across the town.
                  "Wanna tell Zed and Curt about the dog?" Hunter inhaled a thick white cloud.
                  "Might as well, we can grab 'em to go swimmin' too. It's a hot ass day."
                  Out against the horizon, the boys saw three bumbling men drag a large burlap bag on the ground. Hunter recognized them right away; Mike, Earl and Lester, three stupid sons of bitches that took over his dad's garage before he died.
                  "What the fuck're those assholes doing out here?" Hunter asked.
                  "Jerkin' each other off, probably," Judd said, "what do you s'pose that is?" Judd pointed to the burlap bag.
                  "Looks like a possom in there, maybe a coon," Hunter responded, "I didn't think those idiots could hunt."
                  Muffled cries and shouts startled the birds out of their nests.
                  "That doesn't sound like a possum, Judd," Hunter said.
                  Lester was an old grease monkey that should've retired even before Hunter's dad kicked the bucket. He had the money to buy the garage and times were tough, so Hunter's dad sold it on his death bed.              
                  Mike and Earl, Lester's cronies, were bullshit mechanics that could barely change a spark plug. Mike was built like a mac truck and he was just as smart.
                  Earl looked like a marshmallow, a yellowish, hairy, marshmallow. Ugly as sin, with buck teeth and a comb-over.
                  There wasn't a second that went by Hunter didn't hate those assholes. They didn't even show up to his father's funeral. Instead of preserving an honest man's legacy, they charged double the price and half-assed the work.
    * * * * *
                  Mike and Earl dropped the wiggling bag near a weeping willow tree. Brush and sticks were gathered around the base, set up for a good old fashion witch burning.
                  "What's s'posed to happen boss?" Mike's voice was hollow and slow. People called him Lenny in reference to the book 'Of Mice and Men' but he never understood the reference.
                  "If I toldja once I done said it a hundred," Lester pointed his cane at Mike. "We tie the virgin to that tree," His voice was curt and stern as he directed their attention to the large weeping willow behind them. "Say the prayer to our king, set 'er on fire, and he grants us each a wish."
                  "It's gonna make me smart, ain't it, boss?" Mike said. He wiped the perspiration out of his buzz cut.
                  "Yup. Earl's gonna be rich and perty, And I'll be young and powerful."
                  "That ain't fair boss! Why'd you guys get two and I only get one?" Mike asked.
                  "Cause it's twice as hard to make ya smart, ya big dummy!"