The Wanderers Read Online Free Page A

taken to a bridge that crossed over a dried-up stream. When they reached the center of the bridge Randy ordered their pants and underwear removed. One of the Zorros produced two lengths of twine. He tied one length around Dougie's little prick. Then he tossed the other piece to another Zorro who did the same thing to Scottie. The ends of the twine lay in curled piles at their feet.
    "Whadya gonna do?" blubbered Dougie.
    "We're gonna make you inta girls." A Zorro marched up to the bridge with two large rocks—one resting on each shoulder. He dropped them with a loud thud. Randy tied the loose ends of the twine around the rocks. Dougie and Scottie were pushed to the edge of the bridge, the dry riverbed twenty feet below. Randy and Cary each picked up a rock, checked the tightness of the knots on both ends, and held the rocks over the edge.
    "Do you have any last words to say to your pricks?" Scottie peed all over his legs. Randy tugged slightly on the twine and watched Dougie's prick jump like a marionette. "Look a' that! It'll probably rip right off before the rock hits the ground!" He laughed.
    "Hey! I wanna hear you guys say goodbye to your pricks. Say ... goodbye, prick ... nice a you to hang around so long. Say it."
    Dougie said, "Goodbye ... nice a you ... c'mon, Randy, I'm sorry."
    "Scottie ... now you."
    "Goodbye ... so long ... I—I—"
    "One ... two..."
    Dougie and Scottie screamed at the top of their lungs.
    "Three!" The rocks flew over the side, landing with a dry thud on the cracked mud. Dougie and Scottie stood paralyzed but intact. If the drop was twenty feet the ropes must have been thirty feet long.
    Randy peered over the side. "Hmm, I guess the ropes were too long. There's only one thing to do." He took out his pocketknife, walking slowly toward Dougie. Dougie trembled, making high-pitched squeals. With one swipe Randy cut the rope off Dougie's prick. Then he cut Scottie's rope. "Well ... I guess well have to find shorter ropes." He tucked the two pairs of pants under his arm, and the Zorros marched off, leaving Dougie and Scottie bare-assed and shivering on the bridge.

2. The Party
    E UGENE C APUTO was having a party. The Wanderers met on Burke Avenue.
    "Awright, Perry, you goin' in again?"
    "How come I always gotta go in?"
    "'Cause you look like a fuckin' forty-year-old degenerate."
    "So does your mother."
    "You ain't got one."
    "Your's got a mattress on 'er back for curbside service. Hey! Get it while it's hot."
    "Hey, c'mon, Perry, you gotta go in, you look the oldest."
    "Awright, awright, what's it now? Two Tangos, a bottle of Seven..."
    "An' some vodka."
    "Ugh!"
    "Well fuck it, I ain't drinkin' any a that orange piss."
    "Awright, awright, get a pint a vodka."
    "Lessee, that's two, three, four, four-fifty."
    "O.K., there's five of us so that's ... ah ... ah, hey somebody gimme a pencil."
    "Ninety cents each, asshole."
    "Awright, get it up."
    "Shit ... all I got's a fifty-dollar bill."
    "Yeah right, you can't even count that high."
    "Oh yeah? It's more money than your old man sees in a week."
    "Oh yeah? Your mother gets that for spreadin' her legs."
    "Oh yeah? Your mother gets that for closin' 'em."
    "C'mon, c'mon, we ain't got all night."
    Once the booze was bought they split to pick up their girl friends. Richie walked back to the projects to get C.
     
    "Yeah? Whozzat?"
    "Richie."
    C's father opened the door, stared at Richie through leather eyelids, grunted. Richie walked past him through the foyer of the narrow apartment into C's room. C was standing in front of her mirror picking at her hair with a teasing comb. He stood in the doorway watching her.
     
    The party was in Eugene's wood-paneled basement C and Richie came early. Only Eugene's date Terry, his cousin Ralph from Queens, and Ralph's girl friend Anne were there.
    "Hey."
    "Hey, Richie, this is Ralph."
    "Howarya."
    "Howarya."
    "An' this is C."
    They all nodded. Eugene pulled Richie over to the record player. "Check this out." He handed