Susan Hinton - Rumble Fish

Another one for David

I ran into Steve a couple of days ago. He was real surprised to see me. We hadnt seen each other for a long time.

I was sitting on the beach and he come up to me and said, Rusty-James?

I said, Yeah? because I didnt recognize him right off. My memorys screwed up some.

Its me, he said. Its Steve Hays.

Then I remembered and got up, brushing sand off. Hey, yeah.

What are you doing here? he kept saying, looking at me like he couldnt believe it.

I live here, I said. What are you doin here?

Im on vacation. Im going to college here.

Yeah? I said. What you goin to college for?

Im going to teach when I get out. High school, probably. I cant believe it! I never thought Id see you again. And here of all places!

I figured I had as much chance of being here as he did, even if we were a long way from where wed seen each other last. People get excited over the weirdest things. I wondered why I wasnt glad to see him.

Youre goin to be a teacher, huh? I said. It figured. He was always reading and stuff.

What do you do here? he asked.

Nothin. Bum around, I answered. Bumming around is a real popular profession here. You could paint, write, barkeep, or bum around. I tried barkeeping once and didnt much like it.

Lord, Rusty-James, he said. How long has it been now?

I thought for a minute and said, Five or six years. Math aint never been my strong point.

How did you get here? He just couldnt seem to get over it.

Me and a friend of mine, Alex, a guy I met in the reformatory, we just started knockin around after we got out. We been here awhile.

No kidding? Steve hadnt changed much. He looked about the same, except for the moustache that made him look like a little kid going to a Halloween party. But a lot of people are growing moustaches these days. I never went in for them myself.

How long were you in for? he asked. I never found out. We moved, you know, right after

Five years, I said. I cant remember much about it. Like I said, my memorys screwed up some. If somebody says something to remind me, I can remember things. But if Im left alone I dont seem to be able to. Sometimes Alexll say something that brings back the reformatory, but mostly he dont. He dont like remembering it either.

They put me in solitary once, I said, because Steve seemed to be waiting for something.

He looked at me strangely and said, Oh? Im sorry.

He was staring at a scar that runs down my side. It looks like a raised white line. It dont get tan, either.

I got that in a knife fight, I told him. A long time ago.

I know, I was there.

Yeah, I said, you were.

For a second I remembered the fight. It was like seeing a movie of it. Steve glanced away for a second. I could tell he was trying not to look for the other scars. Theyre not real noticeable, but theyre not that hard to see either, if you know where to look.

Hey, he said, too sudden, like he was trying to change the subject. I want you to meet my girl friend. She wont believe it. I havent seen you since we were thirteen? Fourteen? I dont know thoughhe gave me a look that was half kidding and half seriousyou leave other guys chicks alone?

Yeah, I said. I got a girl.

Or two, or three?

Just one, I said. I like to keep things simple, and God knows even one can get complicated enough.

Lets meet for dinner somewhere, he said. We can talk about the good old days. Man, I have come so far since then

I didnt stop him from naming a time and a place, even though I didnt much want to talk about the good old days. I didnt even remember them.

Rusty-James, he was saying, you gave me a real scare when I first saw you. I thought Id flipped out. You know who I thought you were for a second?

My stomach clenched itself into a fist, and an old fear started creeping up my backbone.

You know who you look just like?

Yeah, I said, and remembered everything. I could of been really glad to see ol Steve, if he hadnt made me remember everything.

I was hanging out in Bennys, playing pool, when I heard Biff Wilcox was looking to kill me.

Bennys was the hangout for the junior high kids. The high schoolers used to go there, but when the younger kids moved in, they moved out. Benny was pretty mad about it. Junior high kids dont have as much money to spend. He couldnt do much about it except hate the kids, though. If a place gets marked as a hangout, thats it.

Steve was there, and B.J. Jackson, and Smokey Bennet, and some other guys. I was playing pool with Smokey. I was probably winning, since I was a pretty good pool player. Smokey was hacked off because he already owed me some money. He was glad when Midget came in and said, Biff is lookin for you, Rusty-James.

I missed my shot.

I aint hidin. I stood there, leaning on my cue, knowing good and well I wasnt going to be able to finish the game. I cant think about two things at the same time.

He says hes gonna kill you. Midget was a tall, skinny kid, taller than anybody else our age. That was why we called him Midget.

Sayin aint doin, I said.

Smokey was putting his cue away. Biff is a mean cat, Rusty-James, he told me.

He aint so tough. Whats he shook about, anyway?

Somethin you said to Anita at school, Midget said.

Shoot, I didnt say nothin but the truth.

I told them what I said to Anita. B.J. and Smokey agreed it was the truth. Steve and Midget turned red.

Hell, I said. Now why does he have to go and get shook over somethin like that?

I get annoyed when people want to kill me for some stupid little reason. Something big, and I dont mind it so much.

I went up to the counter and got a chocolate milk. I always drank chocolate milk instead of Coke or something. That Coke junk will rot your insides. This gave me a little time to think things over. Benny was making a big production out of a sandwich, and he let me know he wasnt going to drop what he was doing and rush over with my chocolate milk.

So whats he doin about it? Killin me, I mean.

I sat down at a booth and Midget slid in across from me. Everybody else gathered around.

He wants you to meet him in the vacant lot behind the pet store.

All right. I guess hes comin alone, huh?

I wouldnt count on it, Smokey said. He was trying to let me know he was on my side, so Id forget about our messed-up pool game.

If hes bringin friends, Im bringin friends. I wasnt afraid of fighting Biff, but I didnt see any need to be stupid about it.

Yeah, but you know how thats gonna turn out, Steve put in. Everybodyll end up gettin into it. You bring people, he brings people

Steve was always cautious about things.

You think Im goin to that empty lot by myself, youre nuts, I told him.

But

Lookit, me an Biffll settle this thing ourselves. You guysll just be an audience, huh? Aint nothin wrong with an audience.

You know it aint gonna end up like that. Steve was fourteen, like me. He looked twelve. He acted forty. He was my best friend, though, so he could say stuff that I wouldnt let anybody else get away with. Dammit, Rusty-James, we havent had any trouble like that for a long time now.

He was scared it was going to end up in a gang fight. There hadnt been a real honest-to-goodness gang fight around here in years. As far as I knew, Steve had never been in one. I could never understand people being scared of things they didnt know nothing about.

You dont have to be there, I said. Everybody else had to be there to protect their rep. Steve didnt have any rep. He was my best friend. That was his rep.

You know Im gonna be there, he said to me angrily. But you know what the Motorcycle Boy said about gang

He aint here, I said. He aint been here for two weeks. So dont go tellin me about the Motorcycle Boy.