The Deadly Streets: Stories Wrung Shrieking from the Shadows by Harlan Ellison

Author:Harlan Ellison [Ellison, Harlan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pulp fiction; hardboiled
ISBN: 9781497604803
Google: cx0rAwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0727861557
Goodreads: 971356
Publisher: Subterranean
Published: 1957-12-31T12:00:00+00:00

“Come on, Petey,” the first boy said, soothingly.

“Yeah. Petey,” chimed in his friend, a meatball with curly hair and bad teeth, “Don’t give us no trouble. We want that gun, and we’ll take it whether you give it or not. Steel like that don’t come along very often…”

Petey Cosnakof watched the three boys. He watched them carefully as they advanced, and the past year flowed back around him terrifyingly.

A full year of being beaten up in the gutters, of having his pocket money stolen from him, of being made the butt of involved and cruel jokes, of having them constantly call him “Little Petey Polack.” The year flung itself back upon him like a damned soul, and he cringed further against the wall, hoping it would leave him alone.

They’d been beating him up ever since he’d moved into the neighborhood, and they wouldn’t let him join the Knifemen. He was on the outside, and they didn’t like him. His name wasn’t Carter or O’Donaghey or even Smith. It was a bastardy-sounding thing like Cosnakof. He was a dirty little Polack bastard!

So they’d shoved him around, and taken his money, and called him names, and made fun of him. But now, suddenly, it was different—now he could protect himself.

Now he had the gun, and it felt warm and firm in his grip. But they wanted it, and they’d take it from him if he couldn’t be a tough boy. You had to be tough in this block—or get stomped.

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