Shift!

"This isn't a unique thought, Danny," Miles said while suppressing a belch, "but the kids we grew up with, and certainly the generation after ours...they have no concept of what consequences mean. I'm talking from the college kid who gets a tattoo on his knuckles -- or the high-school dropout who gets one on his face -- to a kid stabbing another kid in the eye over a seat at Comic Con. What compels a person like that to do something so utterly stupid without any regard for how it's going to affect his life in the future?"

"Video games, fast food, the Internet, fucking technology," Danny answered half sarcastically. "Pass me another Miller. And get one for yourself, too. I'm too depressed to break this down analytically right now, so let's get stewed."

"Your wish is my command, sport," Miles said, fishing a couple of cans from the plastic bag underneath the park bench the two occupied. He tossed one to Danny, who fumbled it a bit then wiped the can's perspiration on his arms and hands on the legs of his jeans.

They cracked their beers at the same time and for a few seconds chugged the working man's nectar in unison, a pair of synchronized drinkers at the Alcohol Olympics. Guaranteed a gold medal because Tony DuPaul couldn't compete due to his current status of being dead.

"Over the years," Danny spoke after swallowing a mouthful of beer, "I've always said I never wanted to see that motherfucker again. Shit, he pissed on my and Tracy's wedding cake. But I would have taken an asshole Tony over a dead one."

"He was always there, always a part of us, no matter what stupid shit he was up to or what Tony brand of crazy he concocted," Miles affirmed. "I'm going to miss him a lot, that stupid, beautiful cocksucker."

"How'd he ever get the dumb notion to stain his teeth blue, anyway?" asked Danny.

"Ah, who the hell knows," Miles replied with a sigh. "He was bored or trying to be unique is my guess. I'm pretty sure he didn't expect he'd go to South Central and flash his winning blue smile in a Blood neighborhood and get gunned down in broad daylight, but we can only hypothesize."

"Fucking Tony," Danny whispered.