Bloodbrothers

Table of Contents

Title Page

Table of Contents

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

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First Mariner Books edition 1999

Copyright © 1976 by Richard Price
All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write
to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South,
New York, New York 10003.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Price, Richard, date.
Bloodbrothers / Richard Price,
p. cm.
"A Mariner Book."
ISBN 0-395-97773-8
1. High school graduates—New York (State)—Fiction.
2. Teenagers—New York (State)—Fiction.
3. Family—New York (State)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3566.R544B58 1999
813'.54—dc21 99-15176 CIP

Printed in the United States of America

QUM 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For John Califano, a true Bloodbrother, in love and friendship, "you know how we do..."

To Sabrina Di Benedetto

To Ellen Joseph and Carl Brandt for their enthusiasm and encouragement

To Cubby

To Lord Buckley

who am I

I rather think about bein Mighty Mouse and flyin through the air an like that. But now... they askin me questions—what I dream about and what I think about and what about my mother my father an like that. Man you start thinkin about things like that an it give you the sweats like a junkie...

Man—you ask Why should I be me—how I get to be me—why am I me here and not someplace else—and you just end up scared like you was walkin down a empty street at night. So scared it running out you ears...

The Cool World
by Warren Miller

1

A WARM SOUR CLOUD wafted across to Tommy's side of the bed as his wife rolled over in her sleep. Tommy De Coco lay on his back smoking a Marlboro and staring at the green metal Venetian blinds. One of the slats was bent and let in some early-morning sunlight. 7:30.

"Tommy, don't..." He turned his head. Marie was talking in her sleep again. She lay on her stomach and he stared at the brown and white freckles that made her back and shoulders look like salami. Tommy ditched his cigarette and put his arm behind his head. He absently massaged his dick under the covers. Four blocks away church bells rang.

Sunday. Family day. No matter what he did six days a week, on Sundays Tommy De Coco was a family man. And this Sunday he had a big surprise for his family.

His hand smelled from that oily shit inside Trojans. His pubic hair was still damp. He debated getting out of bed and taking a shower before Marie woke up and got a downwind whiff. Tough titties. What could she do? Yell? Scream? He'd crack her so goddamn hard she'd shit teeth for a week. Tommy sniffed his fingers. Fuck it. He rolled out of bed and headed for the shower. Goddamn stuff stinks anyway.

***

Seventeen-year-old Stony De Coco woke up to the hissing of the shower on the other side of the wall.