The Ass~gnrueut<br > / I m in Bluffton on a truancy spree，<br >cutting， we call it， but all you do is walk off the<br >unfenced yard during recess， where three hundred<br >hunched-over kids are shooting marbles. I can t<br >shoot a marble with a slingshot， so I split and go<br >into Dresser s Rexall for a Coke or something，<br >expressly forbidden me by the Doctor because it<br >makes me hyper， she says， but should i drink milk<br >all my life instead or go on now to house bourbon?<br >That is not the point.<br > Suddenly there she is on a counter stool between<br >me and a cherry Coke， or I m even considering a<br > suicide---sixteen godoxious syrups in a thimble of<br > soda--but I can handle this disappointment. I could<br > go to the Texaco and have a bottle and talk to Vergil.<br > They even have Tom s peanuts for a goober-bottle<br > rig-J-you just pour in the peanuts and drink. But<br > CDde， his pumpman， will try to take off his wooden<br > leg on me. One day I got curious and he unbuttoned<br > his shirt and showed me the network of sweaty<br > straps all over his chest that holds the leg on， and<br >