Is a guy still a gangsta if they don't have a gang? Or is it gangster...

You think you know a person, at least superficially--and it turns out they have useful info. I was talking to the guy I’d polled last night. The one who’d throw a woman to the wolves--and it turns out he’d been shot a couple of times.

I’ve always wanted to question someone who’d been shot, and is okay with talking about it. For some funny reason, most people who’ve had that particular experience don’t say much.

I was eavesdropping. Writer, remember? Him and his room-mate were talking about back in the day when the room-mate got shot in the ass, and this other guy ran over to help him and got shot in the arm and leg. Well, the first guy said, “...and all I could think of was, damn--I’m glad I took a shower if they’re going to be pulling off my pants.” And a guy at the far end of the room shouts out, “Yeah--what’d your momma tell you? Make sure you have clean underwear. You never know when you’re going to get shot in the ass.”

And the second guy is still talking, “...you know it don’t bleed. Thing swells up and nothing comes out. The movies and shit are wrong. It’s hot, right? It cauterizes the hole.”

Which I’d never thought of. Every book I’d ever read, blood goes everywhere like a special effect.

And I go, “Really? “ (as in tell me more...) and he says, “Four holes and one bullet, it went in here (and shows me his arm) and went out here, went through here (his leg) and came out here.” I guess he was bending down and had his arm in front of his thigh. He’s damned lucky it didn’t hit the bone. And he’s going, “...all I kept saying was--shit it’s hot. Burns like a--“

So him and just about every other guy in there start trading stories about how it’s better to get hit with a big caliber--small calibers are nasty and stay in you and usually break up and bounce around. And relatives with bullets still in them, and cousins who’d gotten killed. And Jay-Z is screaming on the DVD player, and everyone is yelling.

I think I write guys well. Hey...I get lots of exposure.