Frankie, the Good Shepherd, and Me

From the first page: Frankie’d usually ride up front. I always think of when we first rode together. He had this Van Halen jersey shirt, and it looked bad as hell flapping around in the breeze like a flag. The VH logo could have represented some kind of youth nation. Frankie got it in the 8th grade. Justin Roper—this crazy high school head—drove him up to Houston in his El Camino during the Diver Down tour. Frankie said the Astro Dome was so smogged out, the Astros probably got high as hell the next time they played ball there. Later on, Frankie would give me the shirt. Thing is, for a time, I couldn’t wear it around school or the house. They were against anything that didn’t suck. If it jammed, it was out—work of Lucifer.