The Shotgun Rule.

by Charlie Huston.

PROLOGUE:.

The Sketchy House

It's a bad house. Sketchy. They should know better than to go in. But if they were the kind of kids who knew better they wouldn't be here in the first place.

George races down the street, hits his front brake, and leans over his handlebars, popping the rear end of his bike into the air and holding the wheelstand for a beat before dropping back to the blacktop. He turns circles in front of the house, checking it out.

It's dark. The peeling Dodge Dart in the driveway sits over long dry oil stains, untrimmed juniper bushes edge the lawn and screen the bottoms of the front windows. The gate to the backyard hangs askew, a piece of yellow nylon rope keeping it from swinging open. The sidewalk streetlamp is broken, unrepaired from when he shot it out with the pellet rifle last night.

Yeah, the house is sketchy. But that doesn't change anything. They're going in. He whips the bike out of its circles, k.n.o.bby tires buzzing on the asphalt.

The others wait for him. Hector kneeling next to his bike, fiddling with the chain, putting on a show as if it has become derailed. Paul straddling his own bike, lifting one leg to lean far over the crotchbar, rescuing a half smoked Marlboro Red from the gutter. Straightening, he flicks some grit from the filter and puts it in his mouth while feeling at his pockets for a light.

Andy sees the gesture and crams his hand in his own pocket, yanking out a cardboard fold of matches too quickly, flipping the pocket inside out and sending matches, loose change, and a small piece of plastic to the ground.

Paul shakes his head.

--Nice going, Andrew.

Hector smiles, but doesn't say anything.

Andy drops his kickstand and climbs off his bike, snagging his pants cuff on the seat and sending it crashing down.

Paul drops his head.

--Man. No wonder that bike is such a piece of s.h.i.t.

Andy tilts the bike upright and balances it on the wobbly kickstand.

--Yeah, it's pretty c.r.a.ppy, man.

Paul leans and scoops the matches from the ground. His free hand stays half tucked in the rear pocket of his faded jeans as he folds one match backward over the matchbook and snaps it alight with his thumb before bringing the flame to the crooked halfsmoke in his lips.

--Heads up.

Still picking up his change, Andy looks up and sees the matchbook arcing easily toward him. He panics, any tossed object an opportunity for embarra.s.sment, and rather than catching it bats it straight up, bobbles it several times, and finally slaps it at the gutter and watches it drop through the steel grate covering the storm drain.

Mid drag, Paul laughs so hard the b.u.t.t shoots from between his lips and hits Hector in the back of his head. Already giggling, Hector falls apart now, laughing while running fingers over the sh.e.l.lacked crest of his bleached mohawk, making sure it hasn't been bent out of shape.

Andy laughs, too. Worse things than being clumsy. At least they didn't catch him picking up the little plastic twenty sided die that fell on the ground along with his change. He squeezes it in his hand, running his thumb over the little triangular facets, picturing an equation that would describe a twenty sided object.

Paul dismounts to reenact Andy's fumble. He juggles his hands and skips in place, then freezes to watch an invisible matchbook cut a slow arc across the sky before dropping down the storm drain.

Hector raises his hand in the air and Paul slaps five as they both laugh.

Andy drops the die in his pocket, trying not to laugh at himself, and, failing, honks and snorts through his nose.

Paul picks the still smoldering b.u.t.t from the ground, takes a drag and pa.s.ses it to Andy to finish off.

--Here, spaz, put this in your mouth and stop that f.u.c.king noise.

Andy pinches his fingers over a slight tear in the paper and takes the last hit, sucking the smoke into his lungs, feeling it burn, but not coughing.

Paul grabs a fistful of Andy's hair, jerking his head back and forth before letting him go with a little shove and a slap on the shoulder.

George rides up, kicking out the rear wheel of his bike and skidding to a stop.

--You f.a.gs done f.a.gging around?

Paul gets back on his bike.

--f.u.c.k you, queerbait.

Hector stops messing with his chain.

--We were talking 'bout f.u.c.king your mom.

Andy pats his pocket once and flips up his kickstand.

--Is it sketchy?

George is standing up on his pedals, fingers wrapped loose around black rubber handgrips, balancing perfectly on his chrome and gloss black Mongoose.

--Yeah, it's sketchy. Let's go rob it.

Part One

Piece of s.h.i.t Bike

It started with Andy's piece of s.h.i.t bike.

--What the f.u.c.k were you doing not locking it up?

--I just went in for a second.

--I just went in for a second. How long do you think it takes to steal a bike, d.i.c.kweed?

--It was right next to the window.

--Yeah, that'll do it; no one ever steals s.h.i.t that's next to a window. n.u.m.b.n.u.t.s.

George is kneeling next to a bucket of water, submerging the half inflated innertube from his bike's front wheel. He looks once at Paul, then back in the bucket.

--Don't be such a d.i.c.k, man, he lost his bike.

Paul picks up a rock from the huge pile that occupies half the driveway. He shakes the rock around in his hand.

--He didn't lose his bike.

He tosses the rock, bouncing it off Andy's back.

--He let someone steal it.

Andy feels pressure behind his eyes and fights it. Already cried once coming out of the store and finding the bike gone. Can't cry again.

He picks up a rock of his own.

--I didn't let anyone steal it.

He throws the rock at Paul.

--It was stolen.

Paul stays right where he is, the rock skipping across the pavement and into the street without coming near him.

--Yeah, big diff.

George is still shuffling the innertube between his hands, looking for the string of bubbles that will point to the slow leak that's been plaguing him for days.

--Don't throw the f.u.c.king rocks around, dad'll have a fit.

Andy kicks at a couple rocks, nudging them back toward the pile. His and George's dad had them shovel the rocks from the back of his 4x4 two weeks ago. This weekend he'll rent a rototiller and plow up the back lawn and they'll have to move the rocks a wheelbarrow load at a time to spread over the yard. It's gonna suck and he's not even going to pay them. He says they should be thanking him for plowing under the lawn that they hate mowing and weeding.

A line of bubbles shoots to the surface of the water. George covers their source with a fingertip and lifts the tube from the water.

--Hand me that rag.

Andy bends to pick up a sc.r.a.p of chamois that's lying next to the toolbox. Paul takes a quick step and places his foot over it.

--George, don't let this guy help with your bike. He's bad luck. He touches your bike and it's gone.

Andy yanks on the rag.

--Get off, d.i.c.kmo.

--Make me.

--Get. Off.

Andy pulls harder and Paul lifts his foot and Andy falls back on his a.s.s.

--You're such a feeb.

--d.i.c.k!

George holds out his hand.

--Give me the rag.

Andy throws the rag at him.

Some big brother. Think he could take his side against Paul just once. Just today. f.u.c.king bike. Still can't believe he was so stupid not to lock it up.

George lifts his finger from the puncture in the tube and starts drying the rubber around it.

--Did you see who took it?

Andy gets off his a.s.s, takes the puncture kit from the toolbox and pops the shiny tin lid from the cardboard cylinder.

--No. If I had I would have kicked their a.s.s.

Paul reaches up, grabbing a lower branch of the maple tree alongside the driveway and chinning himself on it.

--Yeah, George, what are you thinking? If he'd seen them he would have kicked their a.s.s. He's such a bada.s.s a.s.s kicker. a.s.ses all over town are afraid of him.

Andy flips him off and hands George the top of the puncture kit.

George drops the rag, takes the lid, and uses its ridged upper surface to score the rubber around the puncture.

Paul hauls himself up onto the branch, hooks his knees around it and dangles upside down, long curls falling over his face.

--Come kick my a.s.s, Andy, I'll just hang here and you try to kick my a.s.s.

Andy stays where he is, watching George fix the leak, taking the lid back and handing him the metal tube of cement.

He's imagining picking up the hammer from the toolbox and swinging it at Paul's face. He's picturing finding whoever stole his bike and stabbing them in the throat with a screwdriver.

Paul puts one arm behind his back.