chapter 33:

the park 2

chapter 34:

the party (ii)

Slowly Junior stood up from the couch.  “I feel sick.” he said weakly, stumbling through the bedroom toward the bathroom.

Joey and Rusty, sitting in front of the television set with the blind Cowboy, looked over at him.  Jesús got up from the four pillows from the second bedroom he has thrown into a pile against the window wall, and followed the boy to the bathroom.  “What’s the matter?” he asked.

Before Junior could reach the commode, he vomited into his cupped hands, spilling some of the watery liquid down the front of his tee shirt, watching it drip onto his bare feet.  He dropped the handful of vomit into the commode, and sank to his knees on the bathroom floor. 

Quickly Jesús grabbed a towel from the rack and stuffed it into the sink, turning on the hot water, soaking the towel with the full force of the tap.  Junior sat on his heels, staring at his messy hands.  Jesús turned off the water and wrung out the towel.  Leaning down, he wiped the boy’s hands clean, and dabbed at his mouth and chin, and the front of his tee shirt.  “Are you all right?” he asked, mopping the floor with the dirty towel. 

Junior lurched to the commode and vomited again.  “I’m sick.” he said dejectedly.

Gently Jesús wiped the boy’s mouth and chin again.

“Thank you.” said the boy weakly.

Jesús reached past the boy and flushed the toilet, noticing the light fixture soaking on the back of the tank.  Junior tried to stand unsteadily, but could not.  Jesús supported him with one hand, and with the other lowered the lid of the commode.  “Here.  Sit down here for a minute, champ.” said Jesús, guiding the boy to the toilet seat, emptying the light fixture into the sink and giving it to the boy.  “Throw up in this if you need to.”

Jesús pulled back the shower curtain, and bent down to pick up the dirty towel from the floor.  He leaned into the tub and turned on the hot water, not seeing the white balloon floating above his head.  He rinsed the towel and wrung it out again, then shut off the water and closed the curtain.  “Are you all right?” he asked the boy again.

“Yes.  Better.” said the boy.  “Except I got some of that stuff on my feet.  – Let me see that towel a minute, will you?”

“I’ll do it for you.” said Jesús.

Smiling, Jesús wrapped one of the boy’s bare feet, then the other, in the towel and massaged them clean.  Finished, Jesús tossed the dirty towel into a corner.  “You rest for a few minutes.” he said.  “But don’t drink anything or you’ll throw up again.  Just rinse your mouth out with water.  I’ll go back in the other room and leave you alone.”

Jesús pulled the bathroom door almost closed and walked back through the bedroom to the living room.  “Christmas is coming.” the blind Cowboy said.  “I can see him coming from a long way off.  – Christmas is coming.”

Rusty laughed.  “Christmas is coming all right.” he said.  “Getting colder and colder every day.  And it does look like snowing out there.”

“That’s what it meant to say, ain’t it?” asked Joey, looking hard at Cowboy, then at Rusty.  “Christmas is what it’s talking about, ain’t it?”

“Is the boy okay, Jesus?” asked Rusty.  “His stomach is weak just like mine.”

“He’s okay.  – Just needs to rest, is all.”

“That’s good.  What are you going to do this winter?”

“I don’t know.  –  Rita wants me to try to get my old job back at the mill.  And some other folks want me to work for them.  But I’m thinking about something else.”

The Cowboy coughed suddenly, clearing his throat.  “Can see him walking this way.” he said, pulling the toy guns from his holsters, pretending to fire them in front of him.  “Christmas going to get you if you don’t watch out.  – Christmas going to get you if you don’t watch out.”

Rusty laughed again.  “Me and Joey are going to be all right.  We both got jobs and a place to stay.  Everything’s going to be all right, ain’t it, Joey?  Tell Jesus what we talked about.”

Jesús looked at Rusty puzzled, not understanding what he’s saying.

“Ain’t it, Joey?” prodded Rusty.

Joey sat silently, staring at the blind Cowboy, as if he were afraid of the toy guns.  He was crying, but he answered Rusty in a strong voice, although he was talking to Jesús.  “The boy’s got a real gun.  Showed it to us.  Said he shot Frank with it.  It’s Frank’s gun.  And he gots all of Frank’s money, too, he said.” 

“When did he do that?” said Jesús.  “When did he tell you that?”

“Before you got here.” said Rusty.  “Tell him, Joey.  Tell him about our plan.”

“I don’t know nothing about it.” said Joey.  “What you wants from me?  I don’t know nothing.  I already gived you all I gots.”

“But, Joey, we got plans.”

 “Everything that live and breathe on the earth gots to die sooner or later.” said Joey drunkenly.  “That’s the way the Big Man fixed it up.  That’s what the Big Man wants.  That’s the way it’s been forever.”

“Forever’s a long time, Joey.” said Rusty.  “You sure things has been that way forever?”

“That’s what I just said, ain’t it?”

“Shot Frank?” said Jesús.  “But that doesn’t make any sense.”

* * * * * * * *

Once again, Jesús was lying on four pillows from one of the bedrooms, thrown against the window wall to the balcony.  Joey and Rusty sat together on the rumpled couch, drinking from the same bottle of wine, the last one from their bag.  Junior, in the big overstuffed chair, was lying with his eyes closed, an almost empty bottle laying next to him in the seat of the chair.  The blind Cowboy sat straight up, expectantly, but apparently asleep in his chair near the television.  He had holstered his toy pistols.  He snored softly, but is only lightly asleep.

“How do you want to go when you got to go, Joey?” asked Jesús, rolling over onto his stomach.

“Don’t want to know ‘bout it when it’s going to happen.” said Joey.  “Just wants to lay me down to sleep, pray the Lord my soul to keep.  Then when I waked up, I’d be in heaven or the other place and wouldn’t has to feel a thing.  – And if I never waked up, then that’s okay, too.  Because wouldn’t ever know about it.  I’d just be dead.”

“Not me.” said Rusty.  “I want to die in the hospital.  With all my friends there to see me go.  You’ll be there, Joey, saying nice things about me.  And you, Jesus, and you, Cowboy, only you’d be awake.  And even Junior, but he won’t be sick and throwing up all over himself.  And you’ll all be sad, and I’ll sit up in the bed and I’ll say ‘It’s a far, far better place I’m going to’…”

“And a hot one.” said Jesús.

“No.” said Rusty.  “I’ll say ‘It’s a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before.”

“I want to die smelling pussy.” said Jesús.  “Seeing that pussy snap open, hearing it slick and wet, sticking my tongue in it, tasting its sweetness.  Then, when I’m dead, I’m going to crawl back up inside there and take a nice long, warm bath.  And nine months later, I’ll crawl back out again as a little baby.  Only I’ll remember everything I know now.  And I’ll remember the Big Man’s name.  And I’ll come out and tell everybody.”

“Christmas is coming.  Christmas going to get you if you don’t watch out.” sang Cowboy.  “Christmas is coming.” 

Suddenly Jesús stood up drunkenly from his seat among the pillows.  “But that‘s not going to be for a long time yet.  I’m not going to die until I’m good and ready.”

“Me, too.” said Rusty.

“I want to propose a toast.” said Jesús, staggering.  “I want to propose a toast to the man responsible for this party.  The founder of the feast.  I want to propose a toast to ‘ME’.”

Joey staggered up from the couch.  “To Jesus.” he said.  “The finder of the feets.”

Suddenly, Junior stood up and ran hurriedly back into the bathroom, holding one hand over his mouth.  He was there for only a second or two before the vomiting began again.  Joey and Rusty sat back down in their chair, shaking their heads.  Jesús quickly followed Junior.  “Are you okay?” he asked, putting his hand on Junior’s back as he knelt beside the commode.

“No.” said Junior.  “I thought it was over.  Maybe it’s over now.”

Again, Jesús reached over Junior and flushed the toilet.  “Just stay there a minute.” he said.  “And we’ll see if it starts up again.  Did you drink more brandy?  I told you not to.”

“Just a little taste, when you made the toast.  But it wouldn’t stay down.  I didn’t want to be a bad guest on account of the party being in my honor and all.  I never had a party before.”

“Your parents never gave you a birthday party?”

“Didn’t have no parents I can remember.  And the orphanage place upstate said that since my birthday was Christmas, the Christmas party was good enough for me.”

“You were born on Christmas?”

“Yeah.  1956, or at least that’s what the church people said.” said Junior.  “Although they lied to me about lots of other stuff, too, so I don’t know for sure.  They said I was born in the orphanage, but I saw my birth certificate, and it said I was born here in the City.  That’s when I ran away.  I wanted to see where I was born.”

“So you ran away, what, a couple of years ago?  I know I saw you on the Block shining shoes for at least a year before I left.” said Jesús.  “You did pretty well to be on your own so young with nobody to take care of you.”

“I can take care of myself.  I learned how to shine shoes up at the orphanage.  I shined shoes for all the priests.  But not for the nuns.  They must have had the girls do it for them.”

“You didn’t take such good care of yourself tonight, did you?  Frank would have called the cops, and had you sent back up there.  Why’d you try to steal from him?”

“I was hungry.  And I wasn’t thinking straight.  But he didn’t know me, and I thought I could run faster than him pretty easy.  Would have, too, if you hadn’t stopped me.”

“Joey and Rusty told me that you shot him and stole his money.  Is he dead?”

“Gun didn’t go off.  Shitty gun.  — But I stole it from him and all his cash box money.  It’s in my coat.  Maybe you can figure out what’s wrong with it, and help me fix it.  I’m going to get it fixed and go back up there tomorrow night, and kill him again.”

“The Bible says not to kill.” said Jesús quickly.  “I couldn’t help you do that.”

“Well, Leon will help me then.  Or get me a better gun.  I’ll tell him the guy cheated me, or something.  He told me it was his job when somebody cheated one of his workers.”

“Leon?” said Jesús, quickly.  “What’s he got to do with it?  — Oh, I see it all now.  Your new job is working for Leon, is that it?  Over behind the Block.  I get it now.”

“Yes.” said the boy.  “Leon will help me kill the hot dog guy if you won’t.”

“I bet he would.” said Jesús.  “I need to do something about that.”

chapter 35:

playground

The soldier lifted his feet toward the sky, pumping the swing with all his strength.  Swiftly he fell back to the earth and, pumping again, moved backwards in the air.  Jack pumped the swing until it was so high that, at the top of the arc on either side, the swing jolted, as it tried to throw his body out beyond the limits of the chains.  Jack stopped pumping and rode the swing down until it no longer bucked.  Then, turning his hands outward so they were unhindered by the chains, Jack leaped into the air.  “Airborne.” he yelled to the swiftly moving sky.

He landed with a crunch in the thick soft carpet of grass, rolling with his fall, slightly soiling the patch on the shoulder of his uniform coat.  He sat up in the grass, singing softly.  “I want to be an airborne ranger.  I want to jump from planes in flight.  I want to be an airborne ranger.  I want to go to war and fight.”

The swing from which Jack jumped gradually slowed down and stopped beside another swing occupied by a heavy overcoat.  Suddenly Jack stood and ran to the sliding board, climbed the ladder and sat down on top of the slide.  He pushed off and glided down the board slickly on the seat of his pants.  He landed on his feet, running, and raced to the merry-go-round, leaning down, pushing and pushing, whirling in a circle, jumping on, riding, twirling and whirling, around and around, whirling and twirling, until dizziness forced him to lay down on his back.

Jack lay on the wooden boards of the merry-go-round and held the soles of his newly shined boots over the side, and lightly scuffed the merry-go-round to a halt.  He looked up into the limbs and branches of the old tree, one of only a few old trees left from the time before the Park was built, from the time of the old neighborhood which ran all the way down to the River.  Jack stood groggily, and staggered to the base of the old tree, inspecting the trunk, again finding old nails stuck into it at irregular intervals, the bark of the old tree growing out around them, absorbing them into its skin.  “This is it.  My tree.  My old tree fort tree. So the house was–”

Jack turned to the sliding board.  “There.” he said aloud.

Suddenly from behind him, Jack heard the sound of gentle laughter.  He turned to see a young woman standing nearby, her hair wet and stringy from the rain, dripping onto her raincoat.  Jack took a step toward the woman, who seemed slightly built, hardly bigger than a teenage girl, and she looked startled, unsure if she should run or stay.  Jack noticed her bare feet and stopped, and in a moment, the girl’s tension eased, and she asked calmly.  “You like to swing?”

Jack nodded.

“I like to swing.” she said, childlike.  “If I swing, will you push me?  Will you push me if I swing?”

Jack nodded again.  “I’ll push you if you want me to.” he said.

“You talk nice.  Didn’t think you could talk for a minute.  Thought you might not talk.”

“I can talk.  My name is Jack.”

“Will you push me if I swing, Jack?” asked the woman.

“Yes.  What’s your name?” said Jack.

The young woman ignored the question and walked the short distance to the swings and sat down in the one next to Jack’s overcoat, the one that Jack had jumped from.  Jack followed her.  “I like to swing at night.” said the woman.  “Cause nobody’s here to bother you.  But nobody’s here to push you either.”

“You come here a lot?” asked Jack.

“Every night.  – Don’t push me too high.  I’ve always been afraid to get too high.”

Jack pushed the woman gently for a few minutes, but not very high, touching only the small of her back, avoiding contact with her rear.  She seemed to enjoy the effortlessness of the ride.  “I like to swing.” she said.  “What was that thing you did where you got way up and then jumped out?  I saw you do it from way across the Park.”

“Paratrooper.” said Jack, laughing, embarrassed.  “That was just something I used to do when I was a little kid.”

“But not anymore?”

“How long you been watching me?” asked Jack suspiciously.

“Since you got here.  I was here first, waiting for those other guys to leave, but when you came I didn’t know you, so I hid in the bushes.  I thought maybe you were a cop, because you had on a uniform.  But then I wasn’t sure.  Some cops are OK, but some aren’t.” she added.  “And then that other guy came.  The one who was sick, and you helped him go home, and then I thought you were all right.”

Jack was silent for a moment, thinking hard.  “I’m not a cop.  I’m a soldier.  I used to live here.  That big tree over there was in my back yard.  It had a tree fort in it.  You can still see the nails where the ladder went up.  – Our house was right over there where the sliding board is.”

“I don’t remember any houses.” said the raincoat woman.  “The Park has been here since I got here.”

“They tore down the houses.  But this is where it was, I’m sure of it.  I fell down and looked up at that old tree, and I saw it.  I knew then, for sure, that this was where my old tree fort was.  You see, our house was right over there where the sliding board is.  And the street must have been over there where the grass doesn’t grow so good.  This is where I used to live when I was little, I swear it.”

“I believe you.” said the raincoat woman.  “I haven’t been here that long.  The Park has been here since I got here, but I guess there must have been something here before the Park.”

“Where’d you come from?”

“Out-of-town.” said the woman.

“Why’d you come here?” asked Jack.

“This is where the bus stopped.  I’ve been here since the spring.  What time is it now?”

Jack looked at his watch.  “It’s after three.  – Oh, I see what you mean.  It’s the end of the fall, the beginning of the winter.  It’s almost Christmas.”

“Already?  I have to go back.” said the woman, flustered.  “Don’t push me anymore.”

Jack stopped pushing the woman and, slowly, as she dragged her bare feet, the swing stopped.  “Have you been down to the River?” asked the girl.

“No.” said Jack.

“Would you like to go down there with me?  I got a bottle of wine.” said the woman, reaching into the pocket of her spotted raincoat, taking out a paper bag, showing Jack a full bottle of wine.  “Just bought it.  I always bring wine when I come to swing.  It’s like a dog—helps you make friends.  But I didn’t want to share it with those other guys.  Not yet anyway.  Wanted to have some for myself.  And some to share.”

Jack picked up the heavy overcoat from the next swing and folded it over his arm.  “My mother would never let me go down to the River.” he said.  “I’d like to see it.”

The raincoat woman put her hand in the crook of Jack’s arm, and the couple walked slowly, chastely, on the brick pathway.  “You’ll like it.” she said.  “It’s my favorite place.”

“What’s down there?” asked Jack.

“The water.”

Jack paused a moment.  “But why do you go down there?” he asked.

“I like the water.  It’s always moving.  It never stops.  You look at it, and in a minute it’s gone.  It’s never the same.  I like the water.  I try to catch the River sometimes.”

Jack laughed.  “How can you catch a river?”  

“In my mouth.”

“What?”

“I try to catch it in my mouth so it can’t get away.  That’s the only way to stop it—the River—is to catch it in your mouth and swallow it.  That stops it.”

“Why do you want to stop it?”

“So it won’t run away.  If I can catch it, I’ll always have it inside me.  When I get good enough someday, I can swallow the whole River, and it won’t be able to get away from me anymore.  It will always be inside me.  Always the same.  – That’s where babies come from.”

“What?”

“That’s where babies come from.  – When a woman swallows a river.”

Jack looked sideways at the woman, out of the corner of his eye, without turning his head.  There was a long silence.

The couple reached the banks of the River.  It had passed over the rocks and shallows and now began to deepen and broaden, struggling toward the ocean.  A number of wooden benches lined the brick walkway, which turned to follow the riverbank, available for people to sit on and watch the River.  The woman led Jack to a bench in the middle of the other benches.  “This is my house.” she said.  “But you can use it if you come here and I’m not home.  I always let people sit at my house if they come to watch the River.”

“Thank you.  I’ll remember that.” said Jack, thinking of Cat.  “In case I’m ever in town again and want to watch the River with someone.”

The couple sat down on the bench.  The young woman pulled the bottle from the bag in her pocket and opened it.  “To the River.” said the woman, drinking first and passing the bottle to Jack.

“To the River.” said Jack nervously, taking a small sip.

From another bench upriver, three men rose from the shadows and approached the couple slowly.  Jack was startled by the presence of other people on the riverbank.  The three men, one big, one little, and one dressed all in black, leading the others, were a scruffy-looking gang.

At once, Jack recognized the three men and started to stand up.  The woman caught him by the arm.  “They’re friends.  It’s all right.” she said, then called to the men.  “Hello.  I thought I might see you tonight.”

“Good evening.” said the man in black, the leader of the three.  “What would you like to see tonight, my lady?”

“Do you like plays?” the raincoat lady asked Jack.

“I don’t know.  Never saw one.”

“Do you watch television?” asked the man in black.  “We watched TV over in the bus station earlier tonight.  We could do that one.”

“I like TV.” said Jack.

“I don’t like television.  Do one of your own.” said the woman, taking the bottle from Jack and taking a drink.

“Can we have a drink first, please, ma’am?” asked the little man.  “To wet our whistles.”

“Our whistles is awful dry, ma’am.” said the big man.

“Not until after you do the show.” said the raincoat woman sternly.

Immediately, the man in black stepped away from the other two men.  “Once upon a time.” he said.  “There was this boy who found a pony.”

The little man jumped up piggy back on the big man.

“And the boy loved the pony more than anything else in the whole world.”

The little man dismounted from the big man’s back, and came around in front of him, and kissed him.  The two men fell on the ground together, pretending to make love.

Jack laughed.  A moment later, the woman laughed, too.  She took a drink and passed the bottle to Jack.

“Well, the boy takes the pony home and asks his Mama and Papa if he can keep it, but they say ‘NO’, that it belongs to someone else and he has to take it back where he found it.”

The little man and the big man got up from the ground, and began to walk sadly, side by side, their heads hanging down.  The big man dabbed at the tears in his eyes with a handkerchief he held in one of his hooves.

Jack took another larger drink from the wine bottle, laughing, then passed the bottle back to the raincoat woman.

“Well.” said the man in black.  “The boy is taking the pony back where he found it, when suddenly they are attacked by an eagle.”

The man in black spread his arms and flew at the other men.  They fell back on the ground, pawing at the air above them, fighting with the eagle.  However, the man in black swooped down and picked up the little man and carried him to a position in front of Jack and the woman on the bench, where he set him down.

“Well.” said the man in black, slightly out of breath.  “The eagle catches the boy and carries him up on a high mountain.  And the faithful horse looks for the boy all over the place.”

The big man, with his arms stretched out in front of him like horse legs, except when he dabbed at his eyes with the handkerchief, wandered around sadly, looking for the boy.  Meanwhile, the little man put his hand up to this forehead, looking far and wide for the horse.  Although the two men were only a few feet apart, they cannot find each other.

“Well, the eagle decides to fatten the boy up before he eats him because he’s such a skinny kid, so he chains him up for a year up on the mountain, and every day the eagle comes and pinches the boy’s stomach to see if he is fat enough to eat yet.”

The man in black leaned down and pinched the little man, but stood back up quickly.  “Well, the horse looks everywhere, and he is very sad and he has a great pain in his heart which is breaking.”

The big man looked around once and sees nothing, dabbed at his eyes, then fell on the ground, clutching his chest, pretending to have a heart attack.  And the man in black said.  “An old man finds the horse and nurses him back to health, and he has seen the eagle and the boy up on the high mountain, and he gives the horse directions how to get there.  So, one day the eagle is out to lunch, taking flying lessons, and the horse comes up the mountain and finds the boy.”

The big man trotted up to the little man, and a huge smile suddenly covered his face.  He reached down and unchained the little man, and kissed him, and they fell down on the ground again, making love.  “Well, the boy said, ‘Let’s get out of here’, but the horse says he can’t because he still has a broken heart.  But the boy argues with him and says he won’t go unless the horse goes, too.  But the horse says where could they go together, not back to the boy’s house.  So finally, the horse wins and the boy goes back to his parents alone, and the eagle comes back and eats up the horse, and the horse is glad because his broken heart was still hurting him.  And they all lived happily ever after that, except for the dead horse.”

The man in black, and the little man and the big man, bowed to the applause of Jack and the raincoat woman.  Jack laughed and whistled as he applauded.  The young woman motioned for the man in black to step forward, and taking a last little drink from the half full bottle of wine, gave it to him.  He bowed again.  “Thank you, my lady.” he said.

Quickly the three men went off, smiling, back to the bench they had come from, to enjoy the wine by themselves.  Suddenly, the raincoat woman jumped up from the bench and took off her spotted raincoat.  Beneath it, she did not wear any clothes.  Before Jack could speak or catch her, she ran to the edge of the riverbank and jumped in the River.  Jack followed her to the water’s edge, looking for her in the River, but could not see her.  Frantically, he scanned the water, and began to take off his own clothes to go in after her.  For a long time, there was no sign of the woman, but at last, she surfaced, as suddenly as she had dived in, and swam strongly back to the shore.

Jack helped her from the water, unable to stop admiring the strength and beauty of her trim, athletic body.  He wrapped her in her own splotchy raincoat and added his warm overcoat on top of it.  He turned up the collars, around her face, feeling her shiver beneath both coats, and hugging her to his body trying to warm her.  “I’m going to have a baby.” she said softly, but with excitement.  “I did it.  I caught the River.  I can feel it.  I got it that time.  I’m going to have a baby soon.  – And he’ll grow up to be just like you.  Only we’ll let him keep the pony.”

“Are you all right?” asked Jack.  “I thought you were drowning.”

“No, I swim every night.  – I’m going to have a baby.” she said.

Jack rubbed the coats against the woman’s body, trying to dry her and stop the shivering.  As he dried her hair, suddenly she stretched up and kissed him.  “It will be our baby.” she said.  “We’ll call him Jack.”

Jack didn’t say anything, unable to think of a response.

After a minute, the girl said, “You can fuck me if you want to, Jack.”

Jack was startled again, and did not say anything, still unable to respond.

“But in the front, not in the back.  And not in the mouth.  I want to be able to see your face.” said the girl.  “So I can tell the baby what his Daddy looked like.  What you look like.”

Jack shook his head, but smiled slightly, thinking of Sissy and Cat.  “Hat trick.” he said softly, but without emotion.

“What?” said the girl.

“Nothing.” said Jack, with a big smile.  “It’s just that this has been a great night.  And I’m very happy.  And sometimes when I’m happy, I do a hat trick where I throw my hat in the air and catch it on my head.”

“We can do it in the bushes, but then the date is over.” said the girl, not interested in hat tricks.  “Because then I got to go down to the bus station and tell all my friends about the baby.”

Jack laughed.  “Well, luckily, I still have a rubber.” he said.  “The one that almost got away from me.”

“A rubber what?” asked the girl.

“Oh, nothing.” said Jack.  “Show me these bushes you like, my lady.  I think I will always remember this night,”

“Me, too.” said the girl.  “I made a friend.  It was a good date.” 

chapter 36: jesús

“What is it, God? 

What do you want from me, old man?

Christmas Day 1956.

Leon would help him, too. 

He’s right about that.

Red hair.  Like Rita. 

Working for Leon just like I did.

Might have to kill Leon to save him. 

Kill him to save him.

Smiling bastard. 

What do you want me to do, God?

I mean, you made me, right?  You fucking made me. 

So that’s your fucking mistake, right?

I didn’t do nothing, man.  I’m just here.  Didn’t ask to come.

What do you want from me, old man?  I try to be good.

But mostly I just try to be me.  Which ain’t so good. 

It’s just me, man.  You made me, right?  You made me.

PARTY.  Good true friends. 

Do anything for my good true friends.

Time for a party.  Party time.

Ain’t so bad.  Free like a bird free.

‘JAYBIRD WAS HERE.’  Free.  Not like before.

Not anymore.  Free like a bird free, man.

‘JAYBIRD WAS HERE.’  Free.  Ain’t so bad.

Come and go.  Stop or go slow.  Nobody says ‘NO’.

Free.  See free.  Be free.  Me free.  – GO FREE.

Jesús Rodríguez loves Rita Martinez.  True Love.

Silky Saturday.  No more silky Saturdays.

Christmas Day 1956.

‘Don’t look at me like that.  It scares me.’

‘I got to think about this.’

And the fly.  The eighth fly.  Saved it.  It needed me. 

Or else would still have been locked up, eating its dead brothers and sisters.

It needed me.  I saved it.

‘You lead the way, Jim.  – Don’t worry. 

I’ll be right behind you.  These girls is the best there is.  The very best there is.’

It’s her fault.  She did it to me.  The Courthouse.

But she needs me.  I love her.  I love them all.

And I hate her, too.  I hate them all.

But I can’t.  –  And it’s all her fault.

No more.  No more.  No more.  No more.”

For God so loved the world…

For God so loved the world…

For God so loved the world…

For God so loved the world

AMEN