“Shit, cocksucker,” Hogg said, “when you were gone, though, I just got so fuckin’ angry I could’ve gone rampagin’ off like Denny—might have, if he hadn’t a’ done it first! Then I said, well if you’re that fuckin’ angry, go get him! Just the way you’re always reachin’ in between my legs for it and don’t care what comes out of it … I don’t know, but it makes an old shit-tub like me feel kinda …” Hogg shrugged. He grinned over at me. Then he looked at the road again. “Don’t know what it makes me feel. But I like it.” He gave a sort of grunt. “Guess I’m still wonderin’ why I came out to Crawhole for you. Probably my sense of duty … I mean I’m glad I did, if only ’cause maybe we helped out Denny. But it ain’t that hard to get some faggot to swing on my joint, dirty as it is. Most of ’em just like it all the more—well, maybe some of the old ones do.” Hogg pushed out his lower lip a moment, frowning. “Some of the young ones’s still pretty squeamish about that stuff, unless they’re just freaks. Like you. Well, I guess it ain’t all that easy, either.” He took a slow breath. “And keepin’ a kid around in the kind of work I have—and that ain’t mentioning the kind of fun—some people would call that about as crazy as ol’ Denny there—Christ, I hope that crazy fucker makes it!” The next laugh was just a snort out his nose. (Yeah, I was thinking, the best thing out of a dick, no matter how dirty, is the cheese.) Hogg took one hand off the wheel to scratch under his arm. “I guess I’m funny, huh? Wantin’ to see him running around loose—and you on a goddamn leash!”

Through the trees, I watched the scow drag its fan of copper, toiling between dark tugs.

Was one tug Sambo’s …? But then, Big Sambo’s tug had been all broke down.

“Hey, cocksucker?”

I looked around.

Hogg crooked his thumb in one bulldog nostril, took it out, slid it in his mouth, and sucked at the snot, watching me. From the way his jaw was working, I could tell he’d started biting at what was left of the nail. (I’d seen Red eat his snot once; but I’d probably have to fight him for it if I wanted to get it from him, where Hogg would just finger-feed me from his own nose right out …) Hogg turned back to look at the road, stopped gnawing, and put his hand on the wheel again. A smile opened in the gold stubble. Wrinkles scored around his green, green eyes.

“Hey …”