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Show Why We Cry Butch and Fenn Stories 99 when you hurt yourself? Why don't people laugh or something else?" "My dad swears sometimes." "No, it's this crying. what is this crying?" Butch really wants to know, and to emphasize the point, he kicks his heels hard and a clump of earth cascades upon Tiny. "No, it's people. They're too hard to measure. Oh, hell, let it go. It's a mess. Roto's no good; he and Karen never cry. Something's wrong with them." But then he lifts his head and points at me: "But it's something, this crying." He's lost in it again and so I try: "You want to go over to the pharmacy?" "Yeah, but give it a second so Roto can clear out of there. I'm sick of him today." We stand and he says, "That's what I ought to study." He points down at Tiny, buried in the dirt. "Hibernation." He can't let it go. Walking down the alley to the pharmacy, he mutters, "It's something. You ever cry?" "Yeah." "When?" "That time my front wheel came off on the path down by the river and I tore my knee all up." "Oh yeah," he's suddenly interested. "How'd it feel?" I stop, raise my knee and show him the scar. It looks like a gob of bubble gum. "How'd it feel? It hurt." |