“Whats it supposed to do?” Steve asked.

“Speed you up. Make you see hallucinations. But the beautiful thing is if you get caught pushing these fake ones, there are no drugs involved. And whats the poor sucker who buys them going to do? Go to the cops?”

Billy took off for Columbus the next day. When he came back, the suitcase was empty. He had sold a batch of aspirin and blotter acid, and he was flashing a roll of money. But Steve noticed that he looked scared.

The following day, while Billy and Steve were working on Billy’s motorcycle, a neighbor, Mary Slater, shouted at them to stop making so much noise. Billy threw his screwdriver against the side of her trailer. The sound of the screwdriver against the metal sounded like a gun going off. Mary Slater called the police, who hauled Billy in for criminal trespassing. Del had to post bond. Though the charge was dismissed, Billy’s parole officer told him to move back home.

“I’ll miss you guys,” he said as he packed. “And I’ll miss the kids.”

“I don’t think we’re going to be here much longer, either,” Steve said. “I’ve heard that the manager is going to evict all of us.”

“What’ll you do?” Billy asked.

“Find a place in town,” Bev said, “and sell the trailer. Maybe you can come and live with us there.”

Billy shook his head. “You don’t need me around.”

“That’s not true, Billy,” she said. “You know we’re a threesome.”

“We’ll see. In the meantime, I’ve go to move back home.” When he left, Bev’s children cried.

(3)

Allen was bored with the job at Reichold Chemical, especially now that Steve Love had quit. He grew sick of the foreman, who constantly complained that one day he’d do things right and the next day he couldn’t do them at all. Arthur griped to Allen that once again they had taken a job of mindless labor beneath their dignity.

In mid-June he put in a workman’s compensation claim and walked off the job.

Del sensed that Billy had lost the job at Reichold Chemical, and he phoned the company to find out. Keeping in mind Dr. Steinbergs advice to confront Billy with his lies, Del asked him, “You lost the job, didn’t you?”

“I think that’s my business,” Tommy said.

“It’s my business when you live under my roof and I’m flipping for the bills. Money grows on trees for you. But you can’t hold down a simple goddamned job. And you lied about it. You didn’t tell us. You can’t do anything right.”

They argued about it nearly an hour. Tommy kept hearing Del use the same put-down phrases Chalmer always used. He looked to see if Billy’s mom would come to his defense, but she never said a word. He knew he couldn’t live there anymore.

Tommy went to his room, packed his bags and put them into his car Then he just sat in the Ford, waiting for someone to drive him away from the goddamned place. Eventually Allen came, saw Tommy was upset and realized what had happened.