"Yeah, because it eats away your taste buds," I said.

"What the hell is this shit

anyway?"
"A little of this, a little of that," Oldman answered. I forced myself to finish
it. "Now this
will hurt a bit my friend, don't move," Oldman said, opening his eyes wide as if to
make
sure they were working properly. Heather walked around to the end of the couch, and
put both hands on the sides of my head. Looked to me like Don luies had his own
warning sy-
stem and would be ready of Fetterson before he got there. Ridding that fast he
wouldn't be eiding far,
so chances were a relay of horses was waiting to carry and a good many friens. And
that means friends
through the good and the bad. Friends no matter what. Everybody makes mistakes.
Everybody has
skeletons." "Skeletons." Orrin repeated the word, the look on his face a smile but
I' m sure it was
meant to be a frown or maybe something worse. "You have no idea. But you are right.
We are friends,
and in being so, you deserve to know the whole story." Orrin, still grasping
Heather's hand, led her
over to the couch. Heather sat down next to me; we were two kindergarteners about
to be read a story
just before naptime.We never took our eyes off the janitor. Orrin gazed towards the
front window
imagining and remembering, like it was being shown to him through old home movies.
He began to tell
his story. Washington, D C Agent Louis pulled his face away form the eye pieces of
the iris scan
and stood in front of the chrome door, waiting. lunch line and came directly to our
table. In a second,
Amour out of his seat and slammed the slim janitor against the wall. Although
Johnney was a good
four inches taller than Amour, they were now eye level. The Killer had him propped
up, holding
Amour up off the ground with his arm sideways across Amour's neck. I went form
sitting to be a dead
sprint until Brunno grabbed my arms. Heather stood up like a jack in the box but
was sat back down
by Jack's hand on her shoulder. The cafeteria went silent. People stood on their
chairs to get a view,
some walked over to get a ringside seat. Jack and Brunno had their stupid little
smiles on. I wondered
if their faces woulld eventually get stuck like that. At first Johnny was smiling
too, his face an inch away
form Amour's but the more he talked the more the smile faded. Amour just hung
there, not wiggling or
trying to get free, arms steady against his side, eyes unblinking. Johnny spoke so
softly that even in the
silence I had to turn my ear to hear. " I' m not going to do anything to you here.
I know that before I
could give you the ass whippin' I'd be happy with, the teachers and your janitor
buddies would be all
over me. But I' ll have my chance soon enough. I go to bed every night dreaming
about it, doze off in
class thinking about it. I 'm calling you out. I' m calling you out to the Hollow."
A gasp went through
the crowd. "On Halloween. That's two days form now in case you don't know. Two
o'clock. That
gives you plenty of time to get out there. I know you wouldn't miss your sorry ass
job to flight me.
You can wear your janitor outfit or a clown costume for all I care, but know this-
you will be there
and I will do you up." The second Johnny finished his sentence the prison guards
were on
him. As they took him away he held up two fingers and mouthed the words "you're
mine". I yanked
my arm away form Brunno. Amour sat down in his chair like nothing happened. The
cafeteria began to
swarm again. Our table sat in silence for a good five minutes. Amour didn't
hesitate to start eating his
applesauce again.I wanted to say something but was at a loss for words. Amour
finally spoke.
"What's the Hollow?" He continued to eat throughout the conversation. Heather
hesitated at first
and then said, "Hawthorne Hollow actually. It's dry riverbed on my great grandpa's
old
property. We don't own it anymore but people still call it Hawthorne Hollow, the
Hollow for short.
It's out in the country about five miles northwest of Collingston." "People go out
there to flight," I cut
in. "Because it's real secluded and the cops wont's be able to break it up in the
time, even if they did hear about it.
People have used it for decades; hell, all our dads and grandpas have stories."
Scotty spoke up,
"My granddad said he seen a guy get killed there one time. Big Jim Geoffries threw
one punch and
killed the poor bastard. It knocked his nose up into his brain. They supposedly
buried the guy right there in the Hollow." I knew the story well. "Big Jim fought
the
guy because the guy was screwing one of his daughters. The police never did a
thing,
even through they knew. We could go on for hours with these kinds of stories."
Amour
seemed unimpressed. "Are you gonna go? You gonna fight him?" I asked. Amour paused