Argh... geez this stuff burns... ss-s-s... Listen. . . now just listen to that teacher . . . that Mister Whoozis or whatever his name is . . . is

a lousy crummy queer. You KNOW?"

"You don't know that for sure.

"Yeah? I don't? Say where are you when he's given the class huh? You asleep or sumthin'? The way he talks about that crummy ancient Greece and all... THAT'S got nothin' to do with sociology . . . the way them guys were. You know what he says, you stupid slob."

"Yeah... so what. He's just explainin' an era . . . that's all."

"He's queer. An' it don't have nothin' to do with explainin' no era. He's queer. I hate queers, man. An' I can spot those crummy bastards a mile away. Lissen. . . I was ten years old. . . hitch-hikin' home from a movie one night. It was cold an' real dark. Kinda like this. Only worse. I wasn't dressed warm an' my teeth were kinda chatterin'. Well I'm hitch-hikin' an' gettin' no place fast when this car pulls up, Caddy, y'know . . . new an' nice lookin'. Well there's this guy sittin' there see an' he says get in. So . . . I gets in. An' we drive a few blocks an' he asks me if I think it's cold enough. I says. yeah. He says cigarette? I says thanks. So he gives me a cigarette. He says that'll warm ya up I'll bet, I laugh. You know he seems like a nice guy givin' me a ride and a cigarette an' all. I don't think anything's comin' off. We talk. School an' all. He said he was a projectionist or sumthin'. Then he says would I like to see some pictures. I says sure. So he reaches in the glove compartment, see . . . an' he pulls out this envelope. Open it up he says. Next thing I know we've parked on some crummy deserted street an' the light goes on. He says look 'em over, I'll take ya home in a few minutes. So I still don't know what's comin' off. I look at the pictures an' they're all guys an' girls an . . . argh . . . I need a drink. Crummy bum, lousy, stinkin' queer. He... man. . . I got outa that car an' I ran. I kept on runnin' till I came to the boulevard. I got home. I was scared. . .an' hurt."

"What'd he do?"

"SHUT UP!"

"Then why tell me about it if you ain't goin' to finish it?"

"What . . . what'd you say? Huh? What? Finish it? What ya want, the gory details or sumthin'? What . . . ?"

"Skip it then. Let's... let's skip it an' get high."

"No... no. Wait a minnut here. Let's just wait a minnut... "Look

"No, buddy . . . no . . . I won't look. YOU look, man. You look. What are YOU... huh? Huh? You all of a sudden wanta hear what this crumb did to ME. You don't wanta talk about th' teacher now an' he's so queer he

stinks. It ain't just his Greek talk . . . it's who he likes in the class an' those 'advisory sessions' after school an' those 'parties' at his home. I know about those things man. . . I make it my BUSINESS to know, see. I HATE queers an' this guy IS queer but you don't wanta talk about HIM. . . no. An' earlier when I ast you why you don't make out with the dames an' you give me some crummy excuse... some REALLY crummy excuse, boy . . . you wanted to get off the subject both times. But when I start talkin' 'bout what happened to me... man you're all ears. Yeah.

•

"Y'know boy ... I always wondered about you. You always acted kinda funny. . . y'know . . . yeah, yeah, yeah . . . this is real crazy. . . I'm high but I can see this real clear yeah. You use cat words, dontcha. You act like a cat. Like a real rough kitty . . . but ya know . . . you ain't. No, you ain't. You never was really one a' us ... you was always apart kinda. Yeah," "You... !"

"Don't . . . don't say it man. Don't talk now. Now . . y'know . . . us cats, us REAL cats . . . were kinda the majority at that school, Y'know? It's like ya knew it an' you was kinda scared a' us so ya . . . kinda rather 'n' be pointed out... JOIN us, huh?"

"Look .. I've had. . . I've had it, see. I'm leavin'. You're drunk man.

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