Chapter 14

The next person up front was Rick, according to his shirt. He cracked a lot of jokes, was always tickling the others, and even gave some of the smaller guys piggyback rides outside during initial load in and at some of the stops. Rick looked to be in his late forties. He was somewhere between an otter and a chub, a red one, with his hairy arms and chest fur sticking out of the collar of his T-shirt. After what Emery had said about Rick running a weed store, AC wondered if the dopiness was the result of something smoked or ingested, rather than just a personality trait.

Rick settled into the seat, and then closed his eyes. AC thought he might be planning on a nap, but the moment they pulled back into traffic, Rick’s eyes snapped open, and he stared straight ahead. “So fast, man.”

They were still in first gear. AC hadn’t even put on his seatbelt yet.

“Cars going by us on both sides. I grew up where there were only two lanes on a road. Not even divided. Dirt roads, brown and dusty.”