“No,” I said. I almost added “not yet” but I felt bad for having mentioned that she had a great body. “To tell you the truth, I don’t even care if I bang her.”

“Whooooa!” the Wire said. “I take it she gives some pretty nifty skull, eh?”

“No, she don’t blow. I mean, you know, I don’t want her to.”

“What, you got the drip?”

“No, I don’t got the drip. It’s just that I don’t even think about sex when I’m with her. Doesn’t matter.”

The Wire and Drugs exchanged confused glances.

“I like her,” I said.

“What do you mean, ‘It don’t matter’?” the Wire asked.

“I mean I like her a lot. You can treat her like a guy.”

“You mean she’s not just a cunt?” the Wire said.

“No. She’s a good shit.”

Drugs smiled. “Sounds like a cool mule.”

After dropping the Wire and Drugs off and making sure that Drugs didn’t pass out on his steps and freeze to death, DeCenz drove to my house, cut the engine, and torched up a bone.

“Hey, Dunph.”

“Mmm?”

“I been thinking.”

“Yeah?”

“If there really is a God and all that stuff … do you think Mousy went to heaven after all the sick shit he used to do?”

“I guess. I mean, he wasn’t all that sick.”

“Yeah, I know, but … come on, Dunph, he could be pretty sick.”

“What are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about? How about when he stuck the salute up that cat’s ass?”

“It was already dead,” I said.

“All right then, what about when he used to waste all them pigeons with his pellet gun? I mean, that stuff couldn’t have gone over too big upstairs, you know?”

“Aw, that’s nothing,” I said, “Mousy’s all set. He was a kid then. I don’t think a rational God would throw a guy in hell for eternity just because he happened to have the misfortune of growing up in Pawtucket, do you?”

DeCenz didn’t respond.

“What do you want, DeCenz, everyone in Rhody’s pretty much the same. If He sent Mousy to hell, He’d have to send the whole fucking state.”

DeCenz groaned.

“Will you please cut it out,” I said. “Kids out in the boonies are snuffing out frogs left and right. I’ve heard of rednecks yanking turtles right out of their shells. You know what that’s like?”

DeCenz looked pained. “Like getting pulled out from under your fingernails?”

“Exactly. Only worse. Anyway, it just goes to show you that everyone’s a product of their environment. Mousy couldn’t help where he was born.”

DeCenz nodded.

“And what about when he tried to save that tree from getting cut down?” I said. “That’s got to be big stuff upstairs.”