It seemed that fighting was a cloud layer over the Queen City, and Panesa’s pleasant mood had deteriorated as well when his lawyer friend called at the precise moment Hammer was locking her bedroom door and West was telling Brazil to grow up and Bubba was on the prowl in his King Cab. The lawyer had been thinking about Panesa, whom she had observed on the late news, in his stunning tuxedo, receiving a trophy. The lawyer was thinking about Panesa and his silver hair and wanted to drop by and maybe stay over. Panesa made it clear that this was not possible and never would be again, as Bubba parked in dark shadows near Latta Park.

Bubba was in camouflage, a black cap pulled low. When he stealthily reached West’s house, he was pleased that she wasn’t home. Bubba could only suppose that she was being screwed by her sissy boyfriend, and Bubba smiled as he imagined her getting screwed again by Bubba, as he sneaked closer to the front of the brick house. His intention wasn’t felonious but would ruin the bitch’s mood when she couldn’t open her front or back doors because someone had filled the locks with Super Glue. This idea had come from yet another of his anarchist manuals and might well have worked like a charm had circumstances not conspired against him as he unfolded his Buck knife and cut off the tip from the tube of glue.

A car was coming, and Bubba wisely supposed it might be the cop returning home. It was too late to run, and he dove into the hedge. The Cavalier wagon passed, carrying Ned Toms to The Fish Market, where he was about to start his shift, unpacking seafood from boxes of ice. He noticed what he supposed was a big dog moving around in bushes in front of a house where he often saw an unmarked cop car parked, then his Cavalier was gone like a breeze.

Bubba emerged from the hedge, his fingers glued together and left hand completely fastened to the right inner thigh of his fatigues. He rapidly hobbled away, looking remarkably like a hunchback. He could not unlock his truck or drive without freeing one hand, and this required his removing his pants, which he was in the process of doing when Officer Wood happened by on routine patrol, checking the park for perverts. Bubba was arrested for indecent exposure.

West and Brazil heard the call over the scanner but were not even close and were busy discussing Brazil’s life.

“What the hell do you know about my mother or why I choose to take care of her?” Brazil was saying.

“I know a lot. Social services, juvenile court, are overwhelmed by cases just like yours,” West said.

“I’ve never been a social service case. Or in juvenile court.”

“Yet,” she reminded him.

“Mind your own business for once.”

“Get a life,” she said. “Declare your independence. Go out on a date.”