from the pot, cigarettes, and twisted, wooden-tipped, flavored cigars would have set off every fire sprinkler within a mile if there were any.
The bullhorn was passed around again since a different guyâs voice spoke.
âDenning, youâre now called Dung!â
This slob twitched forward a little. He was about five-two and mustâve weighed two hundred, with light apricot hair and fading pimples like in a connect-the-dot book.
Nobody asked him a question yet but he blurted out unevenly, âMy, my fatherâs a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic.â
âLicks the bedpans clean, donât he?â some guy with a New York accent yelled out.
âNo.â
âWhat?â
âUh, I mean, I guess so, yeah.â
âHiggins!â
He took an awkward step forward, making his left club foot obvious. His blond wavy hair was brushed straight back and with a dimple in each cheek, he looked a lot like James Dean.
âWhy you limp?â
He didnât hesitate answering. âBirth defect.â
âYour parents sue the doctor?â
âNo.â
âSue the hospital?â
âNo.â
âParents sue each other?â
âNo.â
âParents sue you?â
âNo.â
âYou sue them?â
âNo.â
âGrossberg!â
âYeah?â
âHiggins family ainât Jewish are they?â
âGuess not.â
Another voice came out of the bullhorn.
âHolmes! Why you talk like an asshole?â
His thin face and chalky complexion made him look like a cadaver.
âFrom England, sir.â
âWalsh! Know why youâre called Watson?â
He was a tall, barrel-chested guy with green eyes, cinnamon hair, and a freckled face that looked right off a Wheaties box.
âNope.â
âCause you and Holmes are asshole soccer buddies.â
He scratched his chest over the blue NO FEAR tank tap, revealing a ring through his left nipple. âIf you say so.â
âBatman! Used to be named Bingham. Home town and major!â
He was my size, but stocky with his light brown hair already starting to thin at the top of his head. A silver piercing was above each eyebrow.
âNew Orleans. Majoring in fucking around.â
First guy here that I liked.
âWhatâs that hairy shit growing under your bottom lip?â
âFlavor saver.â
âWhatâs that?â
âKeeps the flavor of pussy alive longer after going down on a girl.â
âRasoom now known as Zoom! Why you always carry a toothbrush and stink of Listerine?â
The pledge standing on my right had rancid BO, a gut like a pregnant cow, and tiny pearl teeth.
âGood oral hygiene.â
âCanât gargle away AIDS pussy!â was somebodyâs great medical advice that got a few laughs.
âRawlings! Why you here instead of at a school with a football team?â
At about six-four and at least two-fifty, this guy looked tough enough right now to play in the NFL. He had no neck, just muscles that connected his earlobes to his shoulders. âTo raise my grades to play ball for UCLA next year. Sponsor pays me two thousand a month and gave me a new Xterra to go here and train every day.â
âCastle! Why you here?â
He was standing to my left. He was about five-ten, skinny as a broomstick, and so bowlegged that he mustâve been conceived when his mother was fucked on a saddle. He ran his right hand across the top of his dark oily hair that was probably soaked in Pennzoil.
âKilling time waiting for my father to die. Heâs a multi-millionaire.â
âVysell, why your high school grades shit?â
He was about six-one, with reddish-brown hair, droopy eyelids and a deep dimple in the middle of his chin. He always seemed to smile. An intricate barbed wire tattoo circled each biceps.
âDidnât learn much,â he mumbled almost through clenched teeth like a ventriloquist. âSchool