Almost there with a cutie under the bleachers, Ezz heard groaning overhead. She pushed him off and opened her eyes. A wiggling tongue poked thru a gap in the seats. A creepy voyeur. She’d once had a run-in with Mazie’s teeth. She bit hard. Boy blood.

Mazie’s opponent pinned her on the mat inside a minute. One of his massive hands torqued her foot beyond pain, the other gouged her eyes. He’d rip her into mismatched parts unless she got from under & sank her teeth in an artery.

Gran said: Don’t get fed up Mazie cuz stupid folks’ll never think outside the box they’ll be buried in. You take every word & eyelid flicker & hold it to the ropes til the bell rings. When you’ve wrung out every lick of meaning, that’s where truth is.