“Oh God, here it was. And what could I say? The guy was paying me twenty bucks an hour. He got my car towed out of a ditch. He bought me coffee and now beer. Plus he gave me a hundred bucks. I’m no dummy. Now I had to touch his dick.”
Page 103 (‘TMI’):
“I was ten years old, but it’s true. I put Doug Goble’s dick in my mouth.”
“The real-estate guy?”
“Yeah.”
Nick looked around frantically. “What the fuck are you talking about, Michael?”
“I was in fourth grade. It was no big deal.”
Cringing, Nick held his hands out in front of him in a yield gesture. “Stop.”
“He sucked mine, too.”
“Stop! Why are you telling me this?”
“And you know what?” I said. “It wasn’t terrible.”
All the air went out of Nick, and he looked at me dully, his face a prairie of blankness.
“This is a joke, right?”
“No, Nick, it’s not a joke.”
“So you’re saying you’re a fag?”
“I doubt that. It’s been twelve years since I touched a dick. But that’s not the point.”
Page 187 (‘Is That You?’):
“Relax, I’m just joshin’. C’mon, I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.”
So there I was at the Starbucks in Safeway with Doug Goble. For all my discomfort, Goble was downright chatty. He acted like we ran into each other all the time, and it had nothing to do with dicks. He talked about old times at the church but never mentioned our penises or the fact that he never said ten words to me after our little foray in the bushes. He talked about a few of his new listings and his plans to expand his real-estate empire into Jefferson County but made not a single reference to holding or tugging or sucking dicks. And yet I was convinced he was flirting with me. He talked about the five acres they were developing over on Weaver and the new parking lot at the casino.”
Page 188 (‘Is That You?’):
“‘Let me give you a lift,’ he said.
There it was. The proposition. Or maybe it wasn’t. Fuck, I didn’t know. All I knew was that a lift would save me two bucks in bus fare, but it wasn’t worth sucking Goble’s dick, or even touching it. I figured if he tried anything, I’d punch him in the throat and jump out of the car.”
Page 200 (‘Before and After’):
“Oh God, here it was. And what could I say? The guy was paying me twenty bucks an hour. He got my car towed out of a ditch. He bought me coffee and now beer. Plus he gave me a hundred bucks. I’m no dummy. Now I had to touch his dick.”
Page 245 (‘What are you Trying to Prove?):
“‘Youth group? You mean with the Bible songs and the crackers? What the hell? You’re fucking crazy, Mike. Good luck,’ he said, without looking up. ‘Nice job on the Wardwell place.’
‘Why won’t you admit we sucked each other’s dicks?’”
Page 246: (‘What are you Trying to Prove?)
“‘You hatched the plan, Goble, and you know it. You lured me behind the parsonage. We talked about girls. We shared a Hershey’s bar. Then you showed me your dick.’
‘Whoa. What the hell are you talking about?’
‘The next thing I know, it’s in my mouth.’
‘Are you high?’
‘I can’t believe you, Goble! Dude, you’re insane. We sucked each other’s dicks, and you’re pretending it didn’t happen.’”
