“Oh, man!” the wop said. “Nigger, she sees that big, black turd you got hanging between your legs and she gonna fight to wrap her face around it. Only dick what ever been in her before I hooked up with her was her pappy’s. He used to fuck on her all the time. Towards the end, the dumb bastard got sort of toothless and stupid, and she told me he’d about gummed her to death. Pretty soon she’s gonna belly out with somebody’s little bastard. Then I’m gonna put her out on the street and get her ass to work. A fuckin’ cunt can really make some fuckin’ dough when they’re knocked up and six or seven months gone—from the freaks who really like it that way. Chances are it’ll be mine, but if it isn’t, I’d just as soon it was one of you guys.”

“You want a boy or a girl?” the nigger asked.

“You goddamn crazy? Of course, I want a little girl! You like it fightin’, nigger? I like it sweet and little and hardly no titties on it. Man, I got it all planned out. I figure I’m just about five or six years away from Heaven!”

“You bastards come on,” Hogg said. “We’ll talk about turnin’ Dago’s old lady out later. Right now we got work to do.” He took his fingers out my mouth. Maybe it was getting him too turned on.

“You better put your pants back together, son,” the wop said, opening the cab door. “I know it feels good, but you gonna—”

“I wish you motherfuckers wouldn’t all call me ‘son’,” Denny said, rubbing one sneaker heel again the curb, one hand against the base of his dick. “None of you guys is my fuckin’ old man.”

“So who is your old man?” The wop pulled himself up on the cab seat and turned around to look down between his knees.

“I don’t know who my fuckin’ old man is,” Denny said, “and I wouldn’t wanna know if he was some cocksucker like you!”

The nigger chuckled. “Well, I guess he told you, motherfucker!”

Hogg stopped, his hand on the headlight, on his way around to the other side. “Hey, how old are you anyway?”

“Me?” The wop swung the door half closed, looked down through the open window. I could see his chin in the door mirror. “I’m twenty-three. You wanna make something of it?” I would have thought he was more like thirty-three. But I guess he was just one of those big guys who looks older than he is. He was good-looking, like a grimy, black-jawed bear.

“I should be callin’ you ‘son’,” Hogg said, and went around to the other side. I heard the other door clank open.