This Boy's Life Page #2

We had to talk dirty for a while.

It was a formality...

...like crossing yourself with holy

water when you went into a church.

After that, we shut up

and watched the show.

We softened. We surrendered. We watched

Superman have dumb adventures...

...with dorky plots

and we didn't laugh at them.

-It Iooks better with the bow in back.

-He'II Iove it.

You say he's getting serious aIready?

I think so. He keeps taIking

to me about marriage.

-He's dying to meet Toby.

-Three dates. You got him.

-I'm not sure I want him.

-Don't want who?

It's the tough guy

who can't be bothered to go to schooI.

Don't want who?

Dwight. Remember?

I toId you about him.

PIease, use a gIass.

He's that guy that comes

from the boondocks? The mechanic?

Dwight. What a stupid name.

Dwight.

-CaroIine.

-HeIIo?

Hi.

-The door was open.

-Behave.

Thank you.

Introduce you to everybody.

I'II take your hat.

-This is Marian.

-Marian.

-And Kathy.

-Kathy.

And this is my son.

-So you're Toby?

-No.

-You're not Toby?

-No.

He wants to be caIIed Jack. SiIIy,

but he read those Jack London books.

I'II caII him anything he wants. PeopIe

can caII me anything they want...

...as Iong as they don't caII me

Iate for supper.

-A cup of coffee before we go?

-I couId stand a cup of java, yeah.

-Have a seat.

-Over here?

-So, Jack, do you Iike schooI?

-No.

-You don't Iike schooI?

-No.

-That's the way it is with kids today.

-He might Iike it if he ever went.

Have another cookie.

Keep your strength up.

My son's decided to try to drive me

to an earIy grave. TruIy.

Straighten up

and be poIite now, honey.

-Who made this?

-I did.

WeII, aII I can say is, you peopIe

are pretty Iucky...

...to Iive in a house

with a cup of coffee Iike this.

Wait.

-Thank you.

-You're weIcome.

Just a IittIe trick I Iearned

in the Navy.

So, Jack, I hear you're invited up

to Dwight's next week for Thanksgiving.

You'II Iove it. Great air, great water.

And for scenery, just step outside...

...and open your eyes.

And there's a turkey shoot

Thanksgiving Day. I signed you up.

-ReaIIy? Can I bring my Winchester?

-Sure.

-I'II get that turkey.

-You might.

Look, it can sit up and taIk

just Iike a normaI human being.

Come on, Dwight.

We're going to be Iate.

Thank you. Thank you.

Here's your hat.

Not too much teIevision now.

Jack. Ladies.

I Iove a man who knows how to dress.

-He's so appeaIing.

-What a dope.

Okay, come on.

-I'II make a musIin for you.

-You wiII?

Drag a Iot of dirt up the aisIe

with a train, you know.

PIease.

AIIow me.

There you go. Just a IittIe trick

I Iearned in the Navy.

-He wasn't that bad.

-Let me try this.

Who made this? Did you make this?

I'd Iove to Iive in a house

with a cup of java Iike that.

You do.

-You need a Iight?

-Yes.

There you go. Kids today, I teII you.

-Are you through?

-I do beIieve I am through.

-Be poIite to Dwight this weekend.

-Okay.

-I mean it.

-I said, okay, didn't I?

He's gone to a Iot of troubIe.

And you never know, I mean,

Concrete might be fun.

Concrete, my favorite town.

-WeIcome to beautifuI Concrete.

-PIease stop that.

Stop what?

PIease try to be nice, okay?

-AII right.

-Thank you.

The air is Iike wine up at my pIace.

I wouIdn't Iive anywhere eIse.

That's the God's honest truth.

There's good schooIs, honest peopIe

and the finest fishing in the worId.

There's hunting too. I don't fIatter

myseIf, but I'm a whiz with a rifIe...

...and Concrete aIIows me

to prove that.

Dwight kept babbling on

about the virtues of Concrete...

...but all I could think about

was shooting that turkey.

Here we are. WeIcome to Concrete,

my home sweet home.

Some of the finest peopIe in the whoIe

state of Washington. That's no Iie.

Lots of churches too.

Lots of churches.

A neighbor says, ''Looking for

nice churches, go to Concrete.

Looking for sin, go to heII.''

I think that's funny, don't you? Jack?

Toby? Jack, that is. Jack?

Kids, this is my friend CaroIine WoIff

and her boy, Jack.

-Hi, I'm Norma.

-Hi.

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

Skipper, Norma, and my baby, PearI.

-HeIIo.

-Hi.

-HeIIo, PearI.

-Hi.

-Let's go in, Iook at the house.

-Sure.

This is the house.

This is the Iiving room.

And over here

is the dining room and piano.

And this is the kitchen, over here.

I pIan on getting aII new fixtures,

and that stuff wiII aII be taken out.

It'II be much bigger and nicer.

And up here are the three bedrooms

and the bath.

PIenty of room.

And this is--

This is a kind of a Iounging area.

You know, just in case you want to...

...Iounge.

-Over there is where I work. Joe.

-Dwight.

-How about you kids? You Iike it here?

-It's fine.

-Hi, John.

-Hi.

-It's a IittIe isoIated.

-It's not that isoIated.

It's not that isoIated.

Pretty isoIated, though.

There's pIenty to do

if you'd take the initiative.

When I was young, we didn't have TV.

We used our imagination.

We read the cIassics, pIayed musicaI

instruments. A bored kid is a Iazy kid.

-What musicaI instrument do you pIay?

-Sax. Tenor sax.

-Let me do that.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-You're quite weIcome.

-What about the schooIs? How are they?

-There isn't one. We go to Chinook.

-Chinook High.

-A few miIes downriver.

-Forty miIes.

-Come on, it's not that far.

I cIocked it. It's 39 miIes.

-Come on, just stow it. Stow it.

-It is.

You'd beIIyache if the schooI

was in your backyard.

Now just shut your goddamn pie-hoIe!

So how big is this turkey going to be?

-''Turkey shoot'' is a figure of speech.

-So there's no reaI turkey?

It's just reguIation paper targets.

It's a test of skiII.

And I just found out yesterday, Jack,

they won't Iet kids shoot.

-You said I couId.

-I know.

-It's not fair. You said that I couId.

-I know...

...but they got it screwed up

and toId me wrong at first.

-You did teII him.

-I don't make the ruIes.

If I made the ruIes, I might make

different ones. But I don't make them.

Okay. That's okay, honey.

Don't worry. You can watch.

-Why ain't you gonna get to shoot?

-Shut up.

Next shooters, on your marks.

-Is that it?

-There you go.

-Okay, good Iuck.

-Thanks, John.

WoIff, pIease. CaroIine WoIff.

You mean you want to enter too?

I think it's against the ruIes.

That sign says this is an NRA cIub,

and I'm an NRA member.

That aIIows me to participate

in the activities of other chapters.

-You'II be the onIy woman.

-Fine.

There you go.

-I got it. I got it.

-Thank you.

AIways a first time for everything.

-Eighty-four!

-Eighty-four.

Dwight Hansen.

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