Booker covered the phone with his hand. “Go back to sleep, Mom!” Then to Manny: “I told you I need you here to help me juice.”

“Well, after you hear what I got to tell you, we might want to up your dosage again.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Killington-Stanton game is still on … and Logan’s playing.”

“What? Fuck! How?”

“My cousin got the whole story.”

“Elray?”

“No, my stepcousin Tina. She’s a candy striper at the hospital over in Killington. She called a few minutes ago to order up some weed. I figured, long as I had her on the line, I’d ask if she had by chance heard any news on Logan.”

“Are you crazy? What if she gets suspicious?”

“Don’t worry, bro, I didn’t give anything away. Besides, Tina’s cool, she’s family. Anyway, she told me that Logan never even checked into the hospital.”

“We hack two fingers off the sonofabitch, and he doesn’t even go to the hospital?”

“But it gets worse. Wait till you hear what Slim Freddy told her.”

“Who the fuck is Slim Freddy?”

“Slim Freddy’s this guy Tina’s been dating off and on, goes to Killington High. He was hanging out in the Killington parking lot a while ago and saw Logan throw a football through a goddamn car windshield. Sure sounds to me like the guy can still play.”

“Fuck. So we know all this for certain?”

“Trust me, this is all coming from solid sources. And I just heard on the radio that the school administrators have announced that the game is definitely still on.”

Booker threw the game controller against the wall. “I told you we should have cut off Logan’s foot. This is going to fuck up everything.”

“Look, bro, I thought this whole thing through. Even if Logan plays tonight, he can’t possibly be in top mental form. I’m sure Killington will lose tonight. But even if they pull off a win and we end up playing them in the district championship, that only means you’ll get to kick Logan’s ass all over again. Only this time it’ll be on the playing field. That’s better than all this sneaking around anyway, don’t you think?”

“I can’t risk it.”

“You’re not really scared of him stealing your thunder, are you?”

“Fuck no,” Booker lied. “Shit! How the hell can Logan still throw that good with two missing fingers?”

There was a pause. “Listen, bro, there is just one other thing I need to tell you.”

“What now?”

“I think I grabbed the wrong arm.”

“What are you talking about?”

“This morning, when I pinned Logan’s arm up so you could do the choppin’, I think I grabbed his left arm.”

“So?”

“Well, the thing is, Logan’s right-handed.”

“Goddamnit, Manny!” Booker picked up a cowboy boot and hurled it through the TV screen.