My women don’t drink that stuff, I said. There’s a lot you don’t know, he said, about your women. That’s probably true, I said, but they don’t drink that stuff. You’re pretty fucking smart, he said, so I asked him if I could use the chain saw. Sure, he said, why not? You are a totally problematic parent, I said, I’m way too young to use the chain saw, I can’t even lift it. Weakling, he said. But then he gave me the smallest one that he called the Echo and then he excelled at helping me start it and then I excelled at cutting a rotten branch in half and then Rudy excelled at saying, With a chain saw it’s not about strength, it’s about focus.

Focus, I said. My teacher told me I have to focus and the principal told me that I have to focus. But I can’t focus, I can’t do my Specials, I’m just staring out the window like, Wolfriders, come take me away. Tell me about it, said Rudy. You have to remember to resist them at all costs. I said, That sounds like Mama K. She’s not stupid, your Mama K, said Rudy. But resist who? I asked. Who is Them? The teachers the jail guards whoever, said Rudy. But I told Rudy that I liked my teacher. I liked the principal. I wished I could make them happy.

Rudy said, You’ve got to have your tricks or they’ll get you.

Like lying? I asked, and Rudy said, Call it what you want. You’ve got to have a way out. Take for instance when I was in jail. With the Mean Aunt, I said, and Rudy said, No. A different time, a long time ago before you were born. I was honest, he said, I told them how I really felt and then they tried to make me take pills.

Like vitamins? I asked, but Rudy said, Worse than that. Pills that make you easier to deal with. But I outsmarted them, he said, and I said, How did you outsmart them? and he said, I held the pills in my cheeks. You mean like a squirrel, I said. That’s right, he said. I held the pills in my cheeks like a squirrel with his acorns and then when it was safe I flushed them down the toilet. But what if the pills could have helped you? I asked. I am beyond help, said Rudy, and he opened another can, and he said, You’ve got to remember the tricks, you know.

Like a sucker punch? I asked, and Rudy said, No, something wily something original.