Hogg glanced over. “Not too far away. But it was out in the real sticks, man. I came up in the middle of some real shit. You better believe it was shit. I was tellin’ you about my daddy? He was a scrawny squirt. I guess he wasn’t half as big as I am. He had big feet, big hands, a nothin’ head under the dirtiest hair you ever saw; he was all mean and all scrawn, from his nose to his knees, and what wasn’t scrawn was dick. I know that ’cause at least once a week, when he’d get drunk—which was not a rare occurrence—he’d try to fuck just about everyone of us each. There was more girls than boys. He said that made him happy, but I don’t think he really cared. He’d be givin’ it to the old lady. We’d all be peekin’ in the door—reach in my pants, cocksucker, and play with that thing.” I did. “Yeah, that’s it. My old man, he was somethin’ else. Kept the old bitch pregnant all the time, I remember. He’d drink up half the relief check and she’d drink up the other. Then they’d fuck and fight—bust up the whole damn shack—and fuck some more. Once, he told my older brother, Bo, he could stick it to the old lady if he wanted, ’cause he was tired of her and by this time Betsy was old enough to take a growed-up cock. He went right over to Betsy, too, and began to fool around with her, sticking his hand in her dress and his tongue in her mouth and putting her hand in his fly—Hey, lean down there and suck my balls, boy.” I did. “Well, Bo, who was about seventeen at the time, he’d been sneakin’ looks at Momma in the can and like that a long time anyway. He took him a big drink out the bottle and went over to Momma, just a grinnin’. Momma was in the big green chair, pretty drunk—but maybe she done told the old man she was after Bo anyway, ’cause she just lunge off across for his pants, and pullin’ them open and gruntin’ ’cause she couldn’t get the rope he’d got on for a belt untied at first, and he’s tuggin’ at her dress till one of Momma’s old tits flops out. I remember they got down on the floor and was just goin’ at it, right there. And by this time, Daddy—he’s got Betsy laid back on the dinner table.”

“What was you doin’?” Jimmy asked.