never got kicked out of anyplace before.' He looked like he was going to cry.
'That place bites the root anyway. Will Darnell's an asshole.'
'I guess it would be stupid to try and keep it there anymore anyway,' he said. 'Even if Darnell lets me come back, Repperton's there. I'd fight him again - '
I started to hum the theme from Rocky.
'Yeah, fuck you and the cayuse you rode in on, Range Rider,' he said, smiling a little. 'I really would fight him. But Repperton might take after her with that jackhandle again when I wasn't there. I don't think Darnell would stop him if he did.'
I didn't answer and maybe Arnie thought that meant I agreed with him, but I didn't. I didn't think his old rustbucket Plymouth Fury was the main target. And if Repperton felt that he couldn't accomplish the demolition of the main target by himself, he would simply get by with a little help from his friends - Don Vandenberg, Moochie Welch, et al. Get on your motorhuckle boots, boys, we got plenty good stompin tonight.
It occurred to me that they could kill him. Not just kill him but really, honest-to-Christ kill him. Guys like that sometimes did. Things just went a little too far and some kid wound up dead. You read about it in the paper sometimes.
' - keep her?'
'Huh?' I hadn't followed that. Up ahead, Arnie s house was in view.
'I asked if you had any ideas about where I could keep her.'
The car, the car, the car that's all he could talk about. He was starting to sound like a broken record. And, worse, it was always her, her, her. He was bright enough to see his growing obsession with her - it, damn it, it - but he wasn't picking it up. He wasn't picking it up at all.
'Arnie,' I said. 'My man. You've got more important things to worry about than where to keep the car. I want to know where you're going to keep you.'
'Huh? What are, you talking about?'
'I'm asking you what you're going to do if Buddy and Buddy's buddies decide they want to put you in traction.'
His face suddenly grew wise - it grew wise so suddenly that it was frightening to watch. It was wise and helpless and enduring. It was a face I recognized from the news when I was only eight or nine or so, the face of all those soldiers in black pajamas who had kicked the living shit out of the best-equipped and best-supported army in the world.
'Dennis,' he said, 'I'll do what I can.'
PART I: DENNIS - TEENAGE CAR-SONG Chapter 10 LeBAY PASSES
I got no car and it's breakin my heart,
But I got a driver, and that's a start . . .
- Lennon and McCartney
The movie version of Grease had just opened, and I took the cheerleader out to see it that night. I thought it was dumb. The cheerleader loved it. I sat there, watching these totally unreal teenagers dance and sing (if I want realistic teenagers - well, more or less - I'll catch The Blackboard Jungle sometime on a revival), and my mind just drifted away. And suddenly I had a brainstorm, the way you sometimes will when you're not thinking about anything in particular.
I excused myself and went into the lobby to use the pay-phone. I called Arnie's house, dialling quick and sure, I'd had his number memorized since I was eight or so. I could have waited until the movie was over, but it just seemed like such a damned good idea.
Arnie answered himself. 'Hello?'
'Arnie, it's Dennis.'
'Oh. Dennis.'
His voice sounded so odd and flat that I got a little scared.
'Arnie? Are you all right?'
'Huh? Sure. T thought you were taking Roseanne to the movies.'
'That's where I'm calling from.'
'It must not be that exciting,' Arnie said. His voice was still flat - flat and dreary.
'Roseanne thinks it's great.'
I thought that would get a laugh out of him but there was only a patient, waiting silence.
'Listen,' I said, 'I thought of the answer.'
'Answer?'
'Sure,' I said, 'LeBay. LeBay's the answer.'
'Le - ' he said in a strange, high voice . . . and then there was more silence. I was starting to get more than a little scared. I'd never known him to be quite this way.
'Sure,' I babbled. 'LeBay. LeBay's got a garage, and I got the idea that he'd eat a dead-rat sandwich if the profit margin looked high enough. If you were to approach him