Stony got up and pitched small stones into a slime- and oil-filled pothole. He tried to think of Albert. Save Albert. Got to. But somehow the thought felt like a sexual fantasy he couldn't really get into. Couldn't get a good hard-on about. Something rang false. He thought about himself on his own. Sometimes, I feel, like a mo-tha-less child. Breaking up is haard to-o, ha-ard to do-o. The Night Train! The green green grass of ho-me. My da-ad. He is-n't much, in the eyes of the world. Hit the ro-oad Jack, and don'choo come back no more, no more no more no more. Wi-ild hor-orsess, couldn't drag me away-yay.

But why would working at Cresthaven have to mean leaving home? Who said anything about leaving home?

Stony stopped tossing rocks, rubbed his eyes and staggered aimlessly around the building, his hands back in his pockets. Just a fuckin' job. He wandered over to the spot where the carpenter had died. Nothing, you couldn't see nothing. Just dirt. Earth. Garbage. And the shattered wooden pallet that did the job. He looked up twenty-four stories, imagined it screaming down at him. Picking up speed, slightly turning in the air. Bigger and bigger. Crunch! Stony shuddered. Tough job. Man's job. Stony flexed his muscles. Ahm a Mayn! Ah spell EM! AY! EN! NO BEE! OH! WHY! Runaway chil' runnin' wil'. Play hooky from school can't go out to pla-ay. For the res' a the week, in yah room you go to sta-ay. Eighteen was pretty young for leaving home. Twenty-one's a good time. Besides, who said anything about leaving home?

Suddenly he thought of Butler. He hadn't seen or talked to him since he started working construction.

***

Tommy waited ten minutes for Stony. When Stony didn't return. Tommy got in his car and roared off for Yonkers to drown his sorrow in pussy.

***

Stony took a cab home. His mother and Phyllis were in the kitchen whispering like assassins. He quickly changed, took some money from his desk and left the house.

26

"I CAN'T STAND it no more. That's it, that is it." Marie's eyes were like red stars.

Phyllis frowned as she examined the contents of the folded invoice Marie had handed her. It was a bill addressed to Tommy from the Saw Mill River Motel.

"Now, honey, you don't know for sure." Phyllis' voice sounded weak.

Marie propped her elbows on the kitchen table, her mouth resting against the back of her hand. Balefully she stared at Phyllis.

"It could, could be business. You don't..."

Marie shut her eyes as if to acknowledge a headache. "Just stop. I'm not a kid an' neither are you. At least he could have the goddamn decency not to have the goddamn bill mailed here." She hunched her shoulders and shivered. "Stupid. I don't even know why I'm getting so goddamn upset. I knew all along."

Something snakelike slithered rapidly through Phyllis. An awful tingle. "Whadya mean?"

Marie exhaled through her nose and pushed back strands of hair from her forehead. She felt like she had a fever.