Derek roughly wiped at the tears on his face, waiting for Tyrone's apology.

"I'm sorry," Tyrone said down low.

Derek pretended he didn't hear as he busily wiped his tears, but Stony could sense the small boy's rage subsiding.

"O.K., look, you guys wanna hear a story or no?"

"I do," Tyrone said. He shot a quick glance at Derek as he spoke. Stony didn't bother to ask Derek for the go-ahead but got right into it.

"Thousands a years ago, there was this desert tribe a Indians in the desert."

"What was they called?" Tyrone asked. Stony couldn't remember the name that the scoutmaster used when he told the story in Boy Scout camp. "Ah, the Hondos. Anyway, this tribe lived in the desert an' you know there ain't much food or water in the desert, so it was really important that everybody eat an' drink only a little at a time an' share what they got with everybody else. But this tribe was cool. They been at it a long time an' they pretty much had their act together."

Stony took out a cigarette and lit it, drawing deeply with pleasure. "Except for this one Indian in the tribe who was really fat and greedy."

"Was his name Tyrone?" Derek snickered.

Tyrone started to protest.

"As a matter of fact, his name was Derek."

Tyrone laughed.

"No it wasn't." Derek suppressed a smile.

"Well, really his name was De Coco."

"That's your name," they both said.

"Yeah, well, he was my ancestor."

"You an Indian?" They stared at him popeyed.

"On my mother's side," he said.

"You really an Indian?"

"Hey, c'mon, you gonna let me tell the story?"

They both stared at him with awe.

"Anyway, De Coco was a fat an' greedy Indian, an' his family was always starvin' because he would eat everybody's food. His squaw got really mad an' went to the counsel o' chiefs an' said, 'Chiefs, my man De Coco is one greedy sucker. Me an' my babies ain't had no grub for three days. He just eats everybody's share. Why I got to count my babies every night just to make sure he ain't eaten one of them.' So the chiefs call De Coco to stand trial, an' he comes into the tent, all fat an' greasy like he just swallowed a bass drum, an' the chiefs take one look at that gut he got an' they know his squaw is tellin' the truth, so they say, 'De Coco, we heard you was more pig than man an' we can't afford to have greedy braves in this tribe. You like to eat us all out of house and home, so you got two choices: either we knock you down an' let you roll until you starve to death, or we give you some rations and banish you from the tribe an' let you wander around the desert. What's it gonna be?' Well, De Coco felt like there wasn't much of a choice so the next day they booted him out of the tribe into the desert. They gave him three days' supply of food and drink, you know, some beef, some cheese, two salamis and a six-pack o' Doctor Pepper, and off he goes. Well, he traveled maybe two hundred feet when he starts feeling hungry an' before you know it, he plunks himself down in the sand an' in ten minutes he ate the whole three days' worth o' food. So now he got no grub and he's wanderin' aroun' the desert an' he starts to get hungry again. An' he says to himself: 'Gah-damn, I'm hungry!' But he knows if he go back to the camp they'll kill 'im so he just trudge on ahead for miles an' miles, an' it's hot in the desert an' he's sweatin' an' puffin'. Finally after walkin' ten miles he come to a little water hole. He just lay himself down on his belly an' he's gulpin' it up like a camel. Well, after he got enough, he's sittin' there under that burnin' sun an' he says, 'Ooh-wee! It's hot. I gots to find me some shade!' an' he puts his hand up to his eyes an' he's searchin' the lay of the land."