g lot, “the exoskeleton of some gaunt chrome insect, a chopper leaned against its kickstand.” (113) And a, “57 Chevy, mint, metallic blue.” (113) No excitement, “expect some junkie halfwit biker and a car freak pumping his girlfriend.” Whatever they are looking for they are not going to find it up at the lake. All of a sudden, they see a friend’s car. This is all the three need to know; now things will get interesting, maybe it is not a wasted trip after all. They flash the headlights and honk the horn, a harmless prank to pull on a friend, “for all we [know] we might even catch a glimpse of some little fox’s tit. And then we [could] slap backs with red-faced Tony, roughhouse a little, and go on to new heights of adventure and daring.” (113) In their haste for a little excitement and adventure, they fail to realize it is not Tony’s car after all, but someone else’s car. This is the second mistake. The first is dropping the car keys in the grass.The owner of the car, a greasy booted character, does not find this childish prank funny. He comes out of the car, with fists flying, feet kicking. He is not about to let these guys get away with this so-called harmless prank. This guy is bad; he takes on all three of the friends, and thoroughly beats them up. Even after this, they still think they are bad. “[He] [goes] for the tire iron under the car seat.” (114) The narrator still holds onto the idea he is bad, “[He] [keeps] it there because bad characters always keep tire irons under the driver’s seat, for just such an occasion as this.” (114) Everything the narrator thinks is associated with the image of being bad. The reality is this guy has used the tire iron, not for other fights, but to change a flat tire. As for fighting, this bad character has been in only one other fight in his life “in the 6th grade, when a kid with a sle...
