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her tits for earmuffs?”
    “You’re gross.”
    Roy laughed. “Thank you.”
    “I think you drew blood.”
    “Don’t be a baby. I just squeezed a little. Wow! Look at the screen!”
    The man had pulled off the bottom half of the girl’s bikini. He was caressing her bare buttocks, which were very white against her tan back and thighs, so white that they looked like the plump halves of a pale nut surrounded by soft brown shell.
    “I could eat ten pounds of that ass for breakfast,” Roy said.
    The man on the screen was naked, too. He stretched out on his back, and the girl straddled him.
    “They won’t show us the good part,” Roy said. “Not at the Fairmont. They won’t show her getting it.”
    The camera concentrated on her bouncing breasts and on her gorgeous face, which was contorted with feigned ecstasy.
    “Does that make you stiff?” Roy asked.
    “Huh?”
    “Does it give you a hard-on?”
    “You’re weird.”
    “You afraid of that word, too?”
    “I’m not afraid of any words.”
    “So say it.”
    “jeez.”
    “Say it.”
    “Hard-on.”
    “You got one?”
    Colin was almost sick with embarrassment.
    “You got a hard-on, good buddy?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Know what it’s called?”
    “Marvin.”
    Roy laughed. “That’s funny. Real quick. I like that.”
    The other boy’s approval was a palliative. Colin’s fear subsided just a bit.
    “Do you really know what it’s called?” Roy asked.
    “A penis.”
    “That’s as bad as ‘breast.”’
    Colin said nothing.
    “Say ‘cock’ for me.”
    Colin said it.
    “Very good,” Roy said. “Excellent. Before this movie’s over, you’ll know all the words, and you’ll feel comfortable with them, just like I do. Stick with me, kid, and I’ll bring you up right. Hey, look! Look what he’s doing to her now! Look, Colin! What a popper! Look!”
    Colin felt as if he were on a skateboard, rocketing down a long, steep hill, totally out of control. But he looked.

8

    They got back to Santa Leona at ten forty-five and stopped at a service station on Broadway. The place was closed for the night; the only light was in the soft-drink machine.
    Roy fished in his pocket for change. “What do you want? I’m buying.”
    “I have some money,” Colin said.
    “You bought supper.”
    “Well ... okay. I’ll have grape.”
    They were silent for a while, chugging their drinks.
    Finally Roy said, “This is a great night, isn’t it?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You having fun?”
    “Sure.”
    “I’m having one hell of a good time, and you know why?”
    “Why?”
    “Because you’re here,” Roy said.
    “Yeah,” Colin said, heavy on the self-deprecation, “I’m always the life of the party.”
    “I mean it,” Roy said. “A guy couldn’t ask for a better friend than you.”
    This time, the cause of Colin’s blush was as much pride as embarrassment.
    “In fact,” Roy said, “you’re the only friend I have, and the only friend I need.”
    “You’ve got hundreds of friends.”
    “They’re just acquaintances. There’s a big difference between friends and acquaintances. Until you moved to town, I’d been a long time between friends.”
    Colin didn’t know if Roy was telling the truth or making fun of him. He had no experience by which to judge, for no one else had ever talked to him as Roy had just done.
    Roy put down his half-finished bottle of cola and took a penknife out of his pocket. “I think it’s time for this.”
    “For what?”
    Standing in the soft light from the soda machine, Roy opened the knife, put the sharp point against the meaty part of his palm, and pressed hard enough to draw blood: a single thick drop like a crimson pearl. He squeezed the tiny wound until more blood oozed from it and trickled down his hand.
    Colin was aghast. “Why’d you do that?”
    “Hold out your hand.”
    “Are you crazy?”
    “We’ll do it just like the Indians.”
    “Do what?”
    “We’ll be blood brothers.”
    “We’re already