Chapter 10: The Respect (More Roy's POV)

A/N: Hola, amigos. This isn't much of a major plot twist, but it's really sweet. Disclaimer: If I owned Hoot, I would leave off an "O" in the name and add "Boys making out" at the end. Cause I'm sick like that. :P Enjoy.

As I approached the beach, I remembered the last time I'd been out here by myself. It seemed like ages ago, because in truth, I didn't like going to the beach without Mullet Fingers. It was boring, and there was hardly any wildlife. Mullet brought it all to him, as if he was a charmer or something. In fact, it occurred to me a couple of times that he WAS trained in the art of snake charming, because it just didn't make sense to me that a runaway boy like him would be able to mingle with cottonmouths like he did. It was unexplainable.

As I wandered aimlessly around, looking but not really seeing the beautiful beginnings of a wild red sunset on the coast, I was startled as everything went black: I felt two hands over my eyes.

When I tensed up and was about to panic, I felt the grip loosen. Those hands sorta felt familiar too, but I was in no state to recognize them. First Dana Matherson, and Garrett, and that stupid cock fight, now this! I ripped at the intruding hands, but they stayed resolutely. In addition, I was being guided somewhere. Roughly. I tried to scream, and one of the hands flew to my mouth. In addition, a low "shhh" emitted from behind me.

"Geez, Tex, can't take a joke?"

Mullet! I could've hugged him. Why was I being so awfully obvious? Maybe my nerves were just a little tight. Or... no.

"Hey Mullet Fingers."

"Hey man, get in. We've got a lot of work to do."

Minutes later, the boat pulled up on the beach where Sandy States Realty was meant to build, and to terrorize the fish, turtles and lizards that already called "Sandy State" home.

"Status check, man."

"Hmm, Roy, it's been a few days, maybe we should lay low."

I grinned; this had to be a joke.

"Or not."

"I like the way your think, Tex."

From the glove compartment of the stolen vessel, Mullet retrieved his sack, this time filled with spray cans of black paint.

"Let's go stop some real estate."

We spent the rest of the night painting over the For Sale signs for Sandy State, along with our usual ripping out of stakes from the ground. I added a personal touch: a drawing of a beheaded turtle on the side of the construction trailer. I meant to draw the entire turtle, but I ran out of paint in my can before I finished the head, so I guess it ended up as a beheaded turtle. Mullet seemed to like it.

"Nice job, Tex. Real meaningful."

"I'm surprised you know what it means, drop-out." I played with his hair. Nothing wrong with that, right?

He scoffed, "I ain't a drop-out. I might drop-in again sometime."

My eyes widened in hope.

"But that's neither here nor there, Roy. Tonight's about the critters." He pulled a fishnet from the boat, and we caught food for the turtles and tossed back the small ones. Then we took two good-sized silver ones to fry back by the golf course.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!"

"How was your night at church? Did you eat?"

"Yea mom, I ate. We had pizza." A boldfaced lie.

"What was the lesson, son?" His father sounded genuinely interested.

Roy thought for a second, trying to be as sincere as possible. If his answer seemed suspicious, his parents might question the youth minister. If it sounded cheesy, he'd feel awful for lying so badly to them. Given the circumstances, honesty wasn't that hard.

"Respect the world, respect all God's creation."

A/N: You know the drill: You like, then you rate and review. Then you save a lot of money by switching to Geico! (psych)