Excerpt
– Finders-keepers.
Like the other fellows in the club, Ed favoured tight jeans and
pointed black shoes buffed to a fine gloss. The more clean-cut crowd,
the Hersheys, with their Hush Puppies and school spirit, considered
Ed and his hot rod pals first-class dorks. The animosity of the former,
O’Donnell said, accounted for his admiration of the latter.
Removing the empties progressed to cleaning out the garage
after clubmeetings and washing the Dodge following its last shift
of the week. Soon O’Donnell was sweeping the floor of roaches
and vacuuming the car’s frayed interior. Ed reimbursed him with
a couple of dollars per week in empties and the privilege of entering
his name on the club’s waiting list. Initially this opportunity
interested O’Donnell not at all. In time, however, as he came to
learn of the auto’s mysterious powers, he could think of nothing
else.
As clubhouse waterboy his presence at assemblies was initially
resented. But the membership grew accustomed to his freckled face
and would sometimes allow him a chug from their bottles. A liberal
few permitted the occasional hit of hemp.
O’Donnell’s responsibilities included collecting dues and facilitating
the draws. He would also dash up the alley and spy on the
unmarked car. The young policeman, he reported, was usually reading
the sports pages while the senior officer, when not snoozing,
scribbled in his logbook. My friend O’Donnell enhanced his standing
with club members by circling in behind the pair one dark, blustery
eve, ducking the shafts of light splashing from the neat row of
houses lining the alley, and quietly deflating a tire with Ernie
Cleary’s hunting knife.
That summer puberty took hold of my friend. O’Donnell’s temperature
soared.
– It was like . . . I had some kind of flu! he testified.
The tales members told of their conquests suddenly had a special
interest for him.
When an item of female underclothing was captured it would be
groped and sniffed, fondled and fingered by the membership before
being hoisted like a championship pennant to a beam in the musty
reaches of Ed’s garage.
