"R-E-S-P-E-C-T—found out what it means to me."

"Hey, I'm not fuckin' witchoo, Stony."

"Butler, what you want from me? You know how I feel about the fuckin' store. I'm not gonna jerk you off. It seems your idea of movin' in life is goin' from the bedroom to the bathroom."

"Don't be such a fuckin' big shot, De Coco. You still playin' summer job musical chairs?"

"Uh-uh, baby, this one's for keeps."

"Yeah, right, an' next week you gonna be runnin' with your daddy."

"Hey, Butler, what the fuck you call me for?"

"Right now I couldn't tell you, but whatever it was you ain't got it." Butler slammed down the phone.

"Cunt!" Stony stormed down to the day room.

"Hey, De Coco!" Tyrone threw a checker at Stony as he walked into the room. It bounced off his arm.

"Hey, grow up! Hah?" Stony snapped. Tyrone's face dropped.

"You fuckin' kids." Stony stomped around the room collecting garbage. "Look a' this goddamn place!" The six kids in the room shrank from his presence. "Whatta my supposed to be in here, the goddamn maid?"

"You sound like my mama," Derek said sullenly.

"Baby, this afternoon, I'm everybody's mama!"

***

When Stony got home he slammed the bedroom door and sulked until the next morning when he had to go back to work. That was it for Butler. At the hospital he tried to get his act together, but he was going through hell doing it.

"You ever see a tiger?" Derek snarled, curling his fingers into claws at Stony.

"At the zoo." Stony was busy picking up assorted debris from the day room floor. That morning Mrs. Pitt had told him there was a chance he could be in charge of the day room in a few weeks' time. Stony disappointed her by not jumping at it. He didn't, because he was still in a shit-ass mood about Butler and because he hadn't yet told her he had to split for two weeks come next week. But there was also another reason, something else going down that Stony didn't understand. A nagging fear like he had signed a contract without reading all the small print. Not that he thought that anybody was out to fuck him over. Something about consequences. Something about his last phone conversation with Doctor Harris and leaving home.

"You ever see a lion?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, at the zoo." Stony was distracted.

"Where you at today, De Coco?" Tyrone peered at him.

"Huh?" Stony stood up, his arms filled with junk.

"You sure ain't here."

Stony did a double take, then smiled.

"I'll tell you, you talk about bad animals." Stony dumped the stuff in a white plastic garbage bag. "You know what the meanest animal in the world is?"

"A lion?"

"A snake?"

"Nope, it's a two-headed Italian kabooni."

"He's lyin' again." Derek raised his eyes to the ceiling.

"No, really, man. The kabooni got two heads, one on each end."

"Then how do he shit?" Tyrone challenged.