chapter 24

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-       -      -     -   -   – - - - –-- titepocketsmassacker - -  -   -

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Titepockets is a nondescript brick shoebox of a building, sittin there
bald in the middle of a dirt yard on a shady street corner. it use to be a
pool hall, thats where the name came from. a neighborhood poolhall.
back when neighborhoods use to have shit like that.

we got there as they were tappin the first keg.

it was a quarter to four.

D said—

its gona be a massacker tonite dudes, mark my word.

so to get into titepockets you walk thru this one little room thats hot and crowded and smells like piss beer cigarets sweat and mold, and you push your way into this other, bigger room, it smells the same but its not as crowded or as hot. or it wasnt yet anyway.

at the far end of the room, a screamo band was playin to like a dozen fans. it wasnt realy my style but i kinda liked the singers voice. he had a lisp, which you almost never hear in a singer come to think of it. it took me in enuf to get into the jaunty beat.

you dont haveta pretend to like it D lookatem,

they dont giva shit.

she was right.

i stoppd fakedancin.

lookd around.

felt old.

alota the fans were teenagers. some of em maybe not even teenagers. i cant believ someones parents would lettem come to a place like this. altho i gues its no worse than a mall.

when the song was over, the band walkd off. evrybody
but the singer. he sat down and started fingerpickin— meditativ,
ernest, pretty.

then he started singing. and now that he didnt have to compeet with the amplification you could hear the suttleties in his voice. it was almost like you were witnessing somethin you shouldnt be. even D was transfixd.

after the first verse, the drummer came back up but he didnt start playin yet. then this chick walkdup and started singing backup. it framed the vocals so had to you pay atention to the lyrics, which i dont normaly do the firstime i hear a song but this time was an exeption, i even wrote down a line—

cynicism isnt wisdom, its a lazy way to say that youv been burnd.

seems if anything youd be less certain after evrything you ever learnd.

then

nana grizol

a trumpet  blared and the drummer w e n t   n u t s , w e n t   n u t s , w e n T   n u t s , w e n t   n u t S , w e n t   n u t S ,   a guitar

joind in, and a whole horn section totterd up there

and threw itself into the melee, and nobody gave a

damn about anything exept makin some noise.

kinda reminded me of guess who? not in a derivativ

way, justlike they pickdup on the joy and decided to

run with it.

it ended abruptly. left me wishin it wasnt over,
the way a great song will do. the band put down their instruments
and started hanginout with peeple, acceptin hugs and beers. i wanted
to huggem too.

a buncha peeple musta come in during that last song cause it was gettin prety packd. punks townies hippees and other varius ruffians and neer-do-wells, all cramd together in this hot smelly shoebox. i wasnt sweatin that much myself but i was already coverd in other peeples sweat, peeple kept bumpin into me or getting pushd into me, there was a lot of pushin goin on, and a few skirmishes, tho it was good-natured skirmishing, i mean they smiled while they skirmishd eachother.

id forgoten all about taylor til i heard a voice like a
carnival barker

TAYLOR THE ONE-ARM BARTENDER! step right up mam, what can i getcha?

i forgot to mention there was a bar. it was
just a card table with some licker botles and mixers and plastic cups
and a sign sayin 

No teenagers!

, but taylor had installd himself behind it, and inspite of his shackles he was mixin drinks and hittin on girls with impunity.

somebody came up behind me, liftedup my shirt and jabbd me in the back with what felt like an ice dagger.

i snatchd away the ice dagger.

it was a can of p-b-r.

you took it andy said now you gotta drink it. house rules.

hah.

house rules. if you dont crack it open in tenseconds,

i will crack it open on you.

[ i dont think it was an empty threat ]

nine. eight.

i took preemptive action— opend the can.

hed said nothing about drinkin it.

seven. six

but i opend it.

gotta drinkit, four, three.

luckily, somebody got pushd into andy.
it was trish from bluesky. as soon as she recognized him, she shouted—

ANDY!

and started scratchin the shit out of his face.

all andy could do was cover his face, so she
went to town on his arms.

Ds jaw dropt.

that chick can freakfight like a mutha dude, i had no idea.

Andy A n d y A n d y A n d y A n d y A n d y A n d y A n d y

got his hands around trishs waist—i dont know how he did it, it was like grabbin a feral cat—and lifted her up.

trish

he threw her across the room, she landed on an amp.

she leapt off the amp and ran strait for andy.

trish

D watchd her, then... tang!

trish came flyin back, D threw up her hands and trish began shredding.

but instead a freakin out, D relaxd, started doing that wedge attack [ its calld wing chun ] all the while talkin to trish—

but what would you do...

[ jabjabclawclaw ]

...if i was wearin...

[ pop to the jaw slash to the forearm ]

...long sleeves?

id claw thru em!

and as she said it trish drew blood.

but D kept up her wedge attack she pushd trish back and back

til she tript over some other peeple who were fightin—there were alota
other peeple fightin—trish was imediatly absorbd into the other fight but
then she recognizd one a the guys she was fightin, tyler— happy dwarf, my
first customer at bluesky.

for a second they were fightin and talkin. then they were just talkin.

where were you lasnight, trish?

why do you care?

cause i heard somethin.

what? dont make me clawit outa ya.

i heard, that you and marko drank some robitussin,

and

MARKO?! id sooner sodomize the pope with a

baby kangaroo.

D, clearly moved by trishs linguistics, hurld herself at trish.

she gave up her centera gravity for the first time id seen.

then, as jackerouac wouldsay, their energies met head on.

i had to turnaway eventialy. but there was no turnin

away, everywhere i lookd peeple were engaged in s h o v i n g   m a t c h e s s h o v i n g m a t c h e s s h o v i n g m a t c h e s s h o v i n g m a t c h e s s h o v i n g m a t c h e s s h o v i n g m a t c h e s
or jumpin on j u m p i n o n j u m p i n o n j u m p i n o n eachothers backs b a c k s b a c k s b a c k s or puttin eachother e a c h o t h e r i n   h e a d l o c k s i n h e a d l o c k s i n h e a d l o c k s .
it was seemin more an more likely that i would b e   d r a w n b e d r a w n  into the
melee. didnt D say i wouldnt have to fight tonite? god i hope this
isnt like fightclub.

but thats when brownfrown showd up.

wafted in. on a magic carpet of wiskey fumes.
four scruffy dudes led by andrewprater, pushin peeple outa the way
and passin around a handle of jim beam.

Andrew took the stage.

hey robbie you forgot your flooglehorn!

he pickd up a batterd tuba and threw it at this blond g u y g u y g u y g u y g u y

tuba

where the fucks the micra fone?!

a microphone came flyin at him.

he g r a b d g r a b d g r a b d g r a b d  it, lookd at it like it was a bat and he was ozzy ozborn, and started talkin into it.

microphone

i heard— there were gona be teen-agers

here tonite. are there any teen-agers here?

the three teenage girls who had not fled
smiled weakly up at him.

yall are in highschool right?

uh=huh said the bravest of the three

you gotta read books in highschool, dontcha?

she nodded.

you ever read that book, Lo-lita?

shouted protests from the crowd, i.e.—

prater dont know howta read!

who wants to talk shit to me?! andrew

nobody did, aparently.

never said i could read. i was just gona ask one of these ladies if they

could help me out with the book. incase its on the s-a-t.

some peeple shouted at prater, but they did it hidden behind other peeple and andrew ignored them.

how old, was lolita spose to be?

Andrew turnd up the jim beam, gluglug. you could see the level drop.

jim beam bottle

he wiped his mouth and threw the botle at his gittar player.

it bounced off him, but he caught it before it hit the ground,
took a swig, and threw it to the bass player.

do any a you young ladies know?

the young ladies didnot know.

anybody?

thirt-teen,

somebody said. somebody else said,

twelv!

andrew said one more thing that i wont bother
to repeat, then i guess somebody had enuf, cause the band started playin
over him. i mean the show started.

it was abrasiv. and drunken. and thats puttin it mildly [ tho i spose it did rock, if your into that ]  the hi point was when the guitarist, andrews brother nathan, in the middle of a solo he leans over and starts vomiting. not a quickie either. he puked the entire solo, and never missd a note.

between songs, andrew taunted the girls mercilessly. eventialy madi went up there and heckeld andrew and danced with the girls.

now madi ran the punkhouse, remember, and she was a prety kickass musician. those girls were psychd. it definatly helpd them ignore andrews taunting. tho it did nothing to discourage it.

they ended with an obseen cover of naomi

im watchin NAOMI get screwd

im hopin she will screw me too

thats as far as he got before somebody tackled him.

as soon as Andrew hit the ground p e e p l e p e e p l e p e e p l e p e e p l e p e e p l e  started

p i l i n g p i l i n g p i l i n g p i l i n g p i l i n g p i l i n g on top of him. evrybody dropt their instruments exept nathan,
who was lyin on his back still playin even tho peeple kept steppin
on him. the drumkit was dismanteld, the kickdrum fell over, the
drummer crawld in there to passout.

then a whole herd of peeple rushd forward rushed forward rushed forward like one a those brawls in baseball   julien trish andy johnson jesse  whosevrywhere julien trish andy johnson jesse whosevrywhere julien trish andy johnson jesse... julien trish andy johnson jesse... julien trish andy johnson jesse... julien trish andy johnson jesse... julien trish andy johnson jesse... julien trish andy johnson jesse... julien trish andy johnson jesse... julien trish andy johnson jesse... julien trish andy johnson jesse... julien kayla trish andy johnson jesse... julien kayla trish andy johnson jesse... and abuncha other peeple i knew and didnt know all runnin into eachother and tryin to knock eachother down, i even saw jondavies give somebody a little christian shove. c h r i s t i a n s h o v e. c h r i s t i a n s h o v e. c h r i s t i a n s h o v e.

in the middle of it all was D, the eye of the hurricane, w h e n e v e r w h e n e v e r w h e n e v e r
anybody came at her, shed rotate her hips and send em f l y i n o f f f l y i n o f f f l y i n o f f
like somethin outa crouching tiger hidden dragon, except
the peeple whose asses she was kickin seemd to enjoy it.

aikido throw

At this point, the only ones who werent fighting were me and the teenage girls, and they were even startin to push eachother a little. i felt like the last kid at the middle school dance, that one song when even your nerdiest friend found somebody to dance with.

maybe i could do it. i mean, justlike punch one person on the sholder. or if it was somebody i knew, maybe even bight em lightly on the cheek.

then i did see someone— johnson. he was stumblin along with three peeple clinging to his back, like a harried kingkong, like godzilla. it kinda reminded me of the way my dad use to playwith me. his face was totally exposed. i could imagine my teeth sinkin into his cheek. i could almost taste the facemeat.

i took off my glasses and ran right at him, but
i tript on somebodys foot went sprawling  hit my mouth on this girls
knee  tasted sweat and skin then blood hers or mine i dont know,  some
randoguy r a n d o m g u y r a n d o m g u y r a n d o m g u y r a n d o m g u y r a n d o m g u y randoguy randoguy came flyin at me [ i think he was thrown, i dont think it was    
on purpose ] his sholder hit me square on the nose n o s e n o s e n o s e nose my eyes teerd up
tho somehow i didnt get a bloody nose, the girl whose knee i hit tried
to tackle t a c k l e t a c k l e t a c k l e t a c k l e tackle  me but i slipt s l i p t s l i p t s l i p t s l i p t slipt out of it, i was slick with sweat, evrybody was  
[ and the smell, my god ] somebody grabd me from behind, i thought
i recognized the monkey arms, my suspicion was confirmd when my
mouth was pried open and i tasted, along with my blood, the sweetsick
caramel of cuttysark.

i spat it out.

like a whale spout— cheap  scotch and blood, an
efectiv combination, andy let go of me, i elbowd him 1 2 3 o 5 6 h i m e l b o w d h i m e l b o w d h i m elbowd h i m in the jaw without
even thinkin about it unless my elbo itself was doin the thinkin, he
lurchd back and collided with another guy, i ramd into him, he got
samwichd between me and the other guy, we all went down, i saw a flash
of pink like when i ran into the tree but this time i didnt fade to black,
i opend my eyes and what should i see, mere inches away from my teeth,
but andys face—

i bit him.

got a mouthful of hairy sweaty cheek  and you  knowhat?

it tasted like chickin.

Andy

winced in pain, then laffd, then there was nothin i could do, he
lifted me over his head and started lookin for somewhere to throw me,
and this time it wasnt gona be somewhere soft—

or actialy it was, cause he threw me into  D

she absorbd me, let me plopdown nexto er and rest while she
continued to fling peeple in all directions, at one point she lookt over
at me and said—

if ida known this was gona turn into a dance party

i woulda brought my dancin shoes.

somebody tried to pull me back into the melee, but D
sent em sprawling with a jab kick while she simultaneusly clotheslined
a huge dude in a dress.

how are you doin this? i askt

low centera gravity. its my power move.

An d r e w P r a t e r   emerged from the bottom of the pile like the creature from the blacklagoon, armd with a squirt gun which im pretysure had wiskey in it, actialy im realsure cause i got hit with it, tho mostly he was squirtin the teenage girls. they atempted to flee but there was a big ass melee between them and the exit so andrew cornerd them and please do imagine the bigbadwolf but drunk and slitely more evil.

Andrew gatherd up the girls like the judge did the kid at the end of
blood meridian—

said,

drink sluts, drinkthiss a brown-fuckin-FROWshow!

was a brownfrown show D said now its just a titepockets

party. dude dudnt even know when his shows over, its sad.

you wana get wile the gettins good?

your not worried about them?

we lookd at the girls. andrewprater was holdin their heads back by the hair and squirting wiskey in their mouths like he was pourin a row of shooters.

D shrugd.

good for em. makem growup big an strong.

i dont know bout that...

well watcha gona do about it? cause im heer ta tell  ya,

all the concern in the world aint gona do those girls a

bita good right now.

true.

    i   d o v e i d o v e i d o v e i d o v e i d o v e

at Andrews legs, grabd him
around the ankles, knockd him off balance, almost brought him down, he had to let go of the girls to keep from fallin over, i tried to bite his calf but     i missd [ my teeth made a clacking sound ] he k i c k d k i c k d k i c k d k i c k d k i c k d  me in the t h r o a t , t h r o a t , t h r o a t , t h r o a t ,  not as hard as he could but definatly hard enuf to put me outa commision.

the girls took off

peeple got outa the way to make room for em. but when Andrew

tried to run after em he got swarmd like the red sea.

i lost track of him for a second. then he popd up at the far end of the room, pants down around his ankles with the squirt gun wedged up his ass.

Andrew fought his way thru the crowd. he caught up to the girls
just before they reachd the exit—

then-- out of nowhere comes Johnson .

he didnt try to hittim oranything, he just roard.

RRAAAH!==

it knockd Andrew back—

which gave the girls some runnin room, and
friends lemme tell you—

they ran.

Andrew Andrew Johnson  was momentarily disapointed.

but he quikly turnd his atention to Johnson .

johnson tried to run, but

andrew caught him by the ankles. he lifted him up and started swingin
him around like a scythe, clearing a path to the stage.

Nathan,  meanwhile, regaind control of his guitar guitar and put it next to

his amp. he mounted the amp, pulld down his pants and started pissin on the guitar. he may have been mildly electrocuting himself, the guitar was definatly smoking or the amp was or somethin.

AMP

D   ran at him, sweating, all kinds of ecstasies goin thru her head. ran at him, sweating, all kinds of ecstasies goin thru her head. ran at him, sweating, all kinds of ecstasies goin thru her head. ran at him, sweating, all kinds of ecstasies goin thru her head. she knockd over the amp. nathan fell to the ground.
 
she knockd over the amp. nathan fell to the ground.
 
she knockd over the amp. nathan fell to the ground.
 
she knockd over the amp. nathan fell to the ground.
 
D proceeded to beat the everlivin shit out of him, it was punishing just to watch [ tho the smile never left his face ] D proceeded to beat the everlivin shit out of him, it was punishing just to watch [ tho the smile never left his face ] D proceeded to beat the everlivin shit out of him, it was punishing just to watch [ tho the smile never left his face ]

you sexy bitch nathan shouted

you beautiful manbaby D rejoind 

im gona slice off your cheeks and fry em up like

country ham

if yermama was here id pulldown her pants,

spreader legs open, and shove ya back in there

it got prety detaild and much more obscene, trust me when i tell you im sparin you the worst of it.

Andrewprater made it back to the stage. he flung johnson off into
the crowd [ taking out a number of peeple ] and found the micrafone.
he didnt even pretend to sing this time, he just screamd random
obsenities

FUCK  SHIT  ASS  BITCH  CUNT  COCK  WHORE! 

SATAN  SATAN  SATAN!  KILL  KILL  KILL! 

FIFTY- YARD  CUNT PUNCH! 

SKULL- FUCKIN  SOCK PUPPET! 

TEA- BAGGIN,

FUDGE- PACKIN,

CHRIST- FELCHIN,

RE- P U B L I C A N ! 

even D raisd an eyebrow at that one.

you were right a-l, im glad we stuck around for this.

then somebody shouted—

GANG WAY !

and there was a rush of bodies   and there was a rush of bodies   rush of bodies  i think everybody from outside ran in at once, and maybe some extra peeple too, it overcame me like lava, i endedup on the bottom of a pile, it was hard to breathe, i felt the panic comin on, but i took a deep breath, r e l a x e d —

and bit somebodys leg.

dude got the fuck off me. then i punchd somebody and elbowd somebody else and pretysoon i wasnt at the bottom a the pile anymore.

i didnt run for cover, as had been my original plan. it was prety cool to be at the edge, you could just grab anybody that came by and fling em onto the pile and chances are they would become partofit, especialy if you threw somebody else on top of em which i proceeded to do whenever i was aforded the oportunity. eventialy there was no more room to throw peeple on the pile because the whole room was a pile, so i punchd a cupple folks in the sholder they punchd back, i even popd kayla on her litle button nose, she jamd her pinkie in my nostril it was an efectiv attack, i heard jondavies brayd laughter and saw his teeth go flashin by, lunged for him got within an inch of bighting his ear but endedup hittin my teeth on the backa nathanpraters head, it knockd one ofem out tho i didnt notice it at the time or i didnt care, but i definatly have one less tooth than i use to.

ive been told it makes me look hardcore.

then allofasudden i was hearing, if i wasnt mistaken, communist daughter,
backwards.

i dont know where it was comin from, but thats what it was, and damn if it wasnt evry bit as haunting backwards as forwards. i was almost overcome. ok i was a little. i felt like i was gona floataway, til someone puld me back to earth, it was andy, he said—

lets make like a hipee and roll this joint.

this time i agreed— there was nowhere to go but down.

Fresh air was nice.

we had about five seconds to enjoy it, when—

k u h - f f f o o o m - k u h f f f o o o m - - - - - k u h f f f o o o m - - - - - k u h f f f o o o m - - - - - k u h f f f o o o m - - - - - k u h f f f o o o m - - - - -

like someone shotoff a canon. all the lights wentout

not just in titepockets, but the whole block.

peeple started pourin out like roaches,

D lookd at us and said—

calld that one didnt i? total fuckin massacker.