If you came and set pins at Gus’s, they paid you a five dollar bill. It was the easiest way for a eight- and nine-year-old to make money in the King’s neighborhood. Gus’s was a bar in the area, with a Pabst Blue Ribbon sign over the door that read “Gus’s Place.” It looked like… Continue reading Duck at Gus’s
Tag: Cage
The Fatboy
How was I supposed to know what it was when I was standing in front of the most gorgeous piece of machinery I had ever seen? On the road they looked different. There was always a scary guy riding it. Always a guy who needed a bath, wearing a torn-up shirt and scuffed boots. Under… Continue reading The Fatboy
First Blood
When you are a boy growing up in the year 1985 there are so many cool things going on around you. But of all these things nothing exists that is as pure and as righteous as Rambo. Me and Cage adored Rambo. He was our hero. We were growing up with the ramifications of Vietnam.… Continue reading First Blood
Meek’s Song
I can’t tell you why she did it. I can’t tell you much about what was going on in Meek’s house when she was twelve. I can’t tell you what drove her to pack a few things in a rush and leave her home for the streets of Milwaukee. She was a good girl. She… Continue reading Meek’s Song
The End of Aggression
Well, Cage was big. He was broad in the shoulders and had big hands, and he had a meanness to him that would take him by surprise. He could not understand it. Could not place the thing within him that made him aggressive. Every now and then, for no reason and with no provocation, he… Continue reading The End of Aggression
Saving the Wasteland
Mom saw a snake. It got bigger with each telling. Went from about the length of a spatula to as long as her leg. It went from striped to hooded, went from a greenish yellow to pitch black. My stepfather told her she had stumbled on a hose sitting in the backyard in the grass,… Continue reading Saving the Wasteland
Stealing Marbles
Every time we moved into a new house my mother did the same scam. She convinced the landlord to buy her a few gallons of paint, a couple of brushes and a roller, and she would paint the entire house if he would give her a cut on the first month’s rent. When we moved… Continue reading Stealing Marbles
