you wouldn't have enough to wipe a mosquito's ass.'"

"Mother, your grandmother, treated you nice, didn't she?"

"Oh, she's the best. She treats me better than my real mother."

"She's worried about you, Shane. She doesn't like the idea of you out here alone."

Shane shrugged. "I'm all right."

"Let's head back home. I had some hot food Mother cooked for you. I left it at the motel. Come on, we'll get her to scrape up a good home-cooked meal. Mmmm-uh, I can smell her cooking now." He started walking away.

"I'm not going back."

"Shane, what happens when the scouts come back? They'll run you off, call the police."

Shane gestured at the damaged cabin. "The scouts don't come up here no more since the tree fell. I'm not going back."

"Shane, surely you'd like arid the image of Estafay and him sitting at a table in the Waffle House, his teeth slipping out and Estafay's deformed titties popping loose...Lord in heaven!

"What's wrong with you?" Estafay asked.

"Huh?"

Estafay got into the backseat. "What's wrong with your head? Looks like you fighting a demon."

"No, just a little headache." He took a quick peek at her chest and a chill ran through his gums. "That didn't take long."

"The doctor said I should take a few days to think about it. It's a medical procedure, you know, so there's a slim possibility of complications."

Robert Earl swallowed. "What kind of complications?"

"Pain. Infection. Scars. The operation doesn't take with everyone. I'm sure I won't have any problems. Unlike most people, I have faith in the Lord above."

He wanted to