Gone Fishin': An Easy Rawlins Novel [Paperback]

In the beginning...there was Ezekiel Easy Rawlins and Raymond Mouse Alexander -- two young men setting out in life, hitting the road in a borrowed '36 Ford headed for Pariah, Texas. The volatile Mouse wants to retrieve money from his stepfather so he can marry his EttaMae. But on their steamy bayou excursion, Mouse will choose murder as a way out, while Easy's past liaison with EttaMae floats precariously in his memory. Easy and Mouse are coming of age -- and everything they ever knew about friendship and about themselves is coming apart at the seams....Chapter One

Mouse had changed.

Before he announced his engagement to EttaMae he was a happy man, full of himself. It's true that he was especially pleased when misfortune happened to someone else, but at least he kept us smiling. Life was hard back then and a good laugh was worth a month of Sundays.

But just when he had a reason to be glad, Mouse turned sour and moody. He let his appearance go to seed (he was usually a natty dresser) and nobody wanted to be around him because when a small, rodent-faced man like Mouse got ugly, he was no company even for the harshest man.

He stopped going to parties altogether. If you happened to run into him on some corner, or back alley, and asked how he was doing, he'd say, What the hell you think? Here I am gonna get married in two months an' 'tween me an' EttaMae we ain't got enough money for dip an' crackers.

Mouse didn't go out looking for work. All he did was get mad whenever he had to let go of a few coins.

So it was no surprise that his crowd started to shun him.

I mean, even if you wanted to see Mouse it was hard work because he changed apartments almost every month -- one step ahead of the landlord, as we used to say.

I didn't want to see him. Mostly because I was jealous. You see, EttaMae was the kind of woman you had on your mind when you woke up in the morning. She was big and friendly, and always knlƒE