“I called to discuss your heartthrob, Carl. Being a dangerous criminal sociopath has given me insights and advantages in the field of human dynamics. With a complete lack of moral values I have an edge over just any ol’ Tom, Dick, or Harry. I can read deep into the human heart, darlin’. I have a few helpful pointers for ya to consider. I am about to elucidate. But let us first recap the situation: Carl just tells you that he doesn’t like havin’ such a ‘limited’ relationship. Although he will always love you and carry a special place in his heart for you, he can’t bear to lay eyes on you again—”

“And Maizie is in love and I have to listen to her because I’m still dependent on her. I have to listen to her ‘goo goo’ crap. God! I just want to strangle them both. Somebody ought to take that cocksucking bitch out in the bayou and set her on fire.”

“She’s ‘goo goo’ ’cause he took her to heaven.”

“Burn them! I’m serious.”

“I believe you are. Your whole life, you have to be genial and pleasant. From day one you have to be nice, but you aren’t a dependent person really…actually, if you could move around, if you were mobile and could ambulate at high speeds, you would be more like a barracuda. A muncher operatin’ outside the boundaries of conventional morality, wreakin’ havoc and mayhem.”

“You got it. I have to play nice. I’m sick of it.”

“When I came by I was a trifle drug sick and somewhat inattentive to your concerns. Set ’em on fire? Out in the desert? Why, I don’t shock easily, darlin’, but I’m still blushin’ over the phone at those profane words you have spewed out in such a poisonous and vitriolic fashion. Mercy! You had mah ears flamin’. But you don’t let people walk on you. You get it back. I hear what you’re saying.”

“God, Bobby, I’m sorry! I’ve never been like this. I’m so full of hate. I am almost afraid of all the hate and meanness I have inside.”

“Remember that time out in the backyard when I had—I think, I had drunk around the clock and showed up drunk and we drank that whiskey, and then we went and got more? We went down to Shannon’s Tavern together and you kept pissing about how I was going to dump the wheelchair, but I had presence of mind. I wasn’t that drunk. You were pissed. I saw ‘set ’em on fire’ that night.”

She sighed. “That was a great night. A starry summer night. Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Alcohol and I’m-in-love LSD. I think about that night all the time. I don’t remember anything about getting pissed.”