things that would calm the old man, was just get the hell out of there and run into the woods where he could hide and be safe.
But no.
His mother was blind to it, and Joe would watch as she pushed harder and harder, Joe getting so scared that sometimes he cried, begging her to leave Daddy alone, none of it doing any good until the old man finally had had enough and jumped up, shouting, 'There's gonna be hell to pay.'
His father said it every time.
That's when he started to hit.
Mrs. Pike brought a roast beef to the table for her husband to carve, then went back to the stove for mashed potatoes and string beans. His mother and father weren 't looking at each other, and barely spoke, and that had Joe worried. Things had been tense between them since Saturday, when his father was
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watching the Game of the Week with Pee Wee Reese and Dizzy Dean. His mother was vacuuming the floor around the television, which had the old man pissed off enough, but then she 'd run over the antenna wire with the vacuum and screwed up the reception at the bottom of the eighth inning in a three-two game. It had been building every day since then, with both of them retreating into silence and hostility until the air in the house seemed charged with fire.
Nine-year-old Joe Pike, the only child in this house, could feel their building anger, and he knew with terrified certainty what was coming as surely as the coming of the full moon.
Mr. Pike took another slurp of his whiskey, then set about slicing the roast. He cut two pieces, then frowned. 'What kind of cheap meat is this you bought? There's a goddamned vein right through the middle.'
Here we go.
Joe's mother brought potatoes and string beans to the table without answering.
His father put down the carving knife and fork. 'You forget how to speak American? How you expect me to eat something that looks like this? They sold you apiece of bad meat.'
She still didn 't look at him. 'Why don't you just calm down and eat your supper? I didn't know there was a vein. They don 'tput a label, this meat has a vein.'
Joe knew his mother was scared, but she didn't act scared. She looked angry and sullen.
His father said, 'I'm just saying is all. Look at this. You 're not looking.'
'I'll eat the goddamned vein. Put it on my plate.'
Mr. Pike 'sface began its slow, inexorable crawl to red. He stared at his wife. 'What kind of comment is that? What's that tone in your voice ? '
Joe said, 'I'll eat it, Daddy. Hike the veins.'
His father s eyes flashed, and they were as small as steel shot. 'Nobody's eating the goddamned veins.'
Mrs. Pike took the roast. 'Oh, for Christ's sake, this is a helluva thing to argue about. I'll cut out the vein and then you don't have to see it.'
L.A. REQUIEM 107
Mr. Pike grabbed the plate from her and slammed it on the table. 'I 've already seen it. It s garbage. You wanna see what I do with garbage? '
'Oh, for Christ's sake, stop.'
Her husband jumped to his feet, scooped up the roast, kicked open the kitchen door, and threw it into the backyard. 'There s what I gotta eat. Garbage. Like a dog in the yard.'
Joe seemed to grow smaller in the chair, and wished that he was. That he would shrink smaller and smaller and finally disappear. The freight train was caving in the sides of the house, coming for them now, and no one could stop it.
His mother was on her feet, too, face red, screaming, 'I'm not cleaning it up!'
'You 'II goddamned clean it up, else there 'II be hell to pay.'
The magic words. There'll be hell to pay.
Joe whimpered, 'I'll clean it up. I'll get it, Daddy.'
His father grabbed his arm and jerked him back into his seat. 'My ass you will. Your goddamned mother's gonna do it.'
Mrs. Pike was shouting now, her own face livid. She was shaking, and Joe didn 't know if it was because she was scared or angry or both. 'YOU threw the boy's supper out the door! YOU clean itup. I'll let it stay there for everybody to see.'
'I'm telling you, there's gonna be hell to pay.'
'You hate it here so damned much, maybe you oughta leave. Go live somewhere they don't have veins!'
His father's eyes shrank to wrinkled dots. Arteries bulged in his red face. He charged across the kitchen and punched his wife in the face with his fist even as Joe shrieked, knocking her into the kitchen table. The Old Crow bottle fell, shattering in a splash of glass and cheap whiskey.
His mother spit blood. 'You see what kind of man your father is? You see? '
His father punched her again, knocking her to her knees. His father didn't slap. He never slapped. He used his fists.
Joe felt liquid fire in his arms and legs, as if all the strength and control drained from them and he couldn 't make himself
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move. His breath came in deep gasps, tears and snot blowing out of his nose. 'Daddy, don't! Please stop!'
His father punched her in the back of the head then, and she went down onto her stomach. When his mother looked up again, her left eye was closing, and blood dripped from her nose. She didn 't look at her husband, she looked at her son.
Mr. Pike kicked her then, knocking her onto her side, and Joe saw the fear flash raw and terrible in her eyes. She cried, 'Joe, you call the police. Have them arrest this bastard.'
Nine-year-old Joe Pike, crying, his pants suddenly warm with urine, ran forward and pushed his father as hard as he could. 'Don't hurt Mama!'
Mr. Pike swung hard at the boy, clipping the side of the boy's head and knocking him sideways. Then he kicked, the heavy, steel-toed work boots catching Joe on the thigh and upending him with an explosion of nerve- shot pain.
His father kicked him again, and then the old man was over him, pulling off his belt. The old man didn't say anything, just doubled the thick leather belt and beat the boy as his mother coughed up blood. Joe knew that his father couldn 't see him now. His father's tiny red eyes were lifeless and empty, clouded by a rage that Joe did not understand.
The thick belt rose and fell again and again, Joe screaming and begging his father to stop, until finally
