When the horizon hinted at dawn, Jack persuaded DeCenz to take him up to the water tower. They’d been talking about our Arizona plans, and Jack wanted to be sworn in as a partner. I stayed at the house positioning Waltham’s head while he assaulted the toilet bowl. By the time I got to bed, Jane had started her period.

The next afternoon Drugs and DeCenz picked us up in DeCenz’s father’s Monte Carlo, and we drove back to Cornwall. We hadn’t gone five blocks when Drugs said, “Ut-oh, man. I forgot my squeef at Dunph’s house.” We turned around and passed a familiar pillow case lying on the side of the street.

“Oh, wow, man,” Drugs said, “I think I left Dunph’s shit on the roof.”

“You spaceshot,” I said.

“Hey, that’s gratitude for you,” Drugs said. “You never would’ve found it if’n I didn’t forget my squeef, man.”

“He’s right,” Jane said. “Give Drugs credit. At least he’s consistent.”

We set out for a second time, and DeCenz suggested we stop at the Hilltop and pick up a case. You couldn’t legally purchase beer on Sundays in Rhode Island, but Shorty sold it under the counter. While I was in the Hilltop, Drugs began twisting up the bones, and by the time we got out of Pawtucket, we were all (with the possible exception of Waltham) baked. Irving’s face emitted a pukish green hue while Jack recounted his previous night’s antics.

“How could you let me?” he groaned.

“Believe me, Irv,” I said, “we didn’t let you. If we’d let you, you would’ve woken up married, tattooed, enlisted, and dead.”

“And I actually dropped trou?”

“Well, no,” Jack said, “you didn’t actually drop them. But your little nuts were dangling out of your zipper. Man, you are hung like a wild field mouse.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Jane said. “At least you had a semi.”

PART Six

When spring vacation arrived, I didn’t go home. The old man had received Mort’s letter, and I didn’t want to give him an aneurysm by showing up so soon after. The Dean implicated me in every atrocity that Jonathan Wheeler ever thought of. I stayed at DeCenz’s house for two days and then thumbed down south and met Jane at the Woodstock, Virginia, bus station. Her mother dropped her off there thinking she was going to visit her roommate Brooke in Sarasota. Together we hitched to Key West, then back up to Lauderdale, then we cut across Alligator Alley and cruised up the Gulf Coast.