Page 15 of Goodbye Paradise
“Come on. They’re going to open the doors. So you have to get off of me.”
That got my attention. Even so, waking up hurt me. In the first place, I was completely comfortable, nestled in Caleb’s arms. Not only did I not want to be awake, I also did not want to deal with the embarrassment of waking up cuddling my best friend.
But he didn’t say a word.
Lifting my head was difficult, but manageable. Caleb helped, by shifting my weight off his body. And just in time, because the tailgate creaked open, and the elderly driver appeared.
“Thank you so much,” Caleb said in his most polite voice.Thatwas the voice I recognized, far more than the new, cursing Caleb. For years, I’d heard him make nice to the elders, and to the other bachelors when he wanted to pacify someone.
“You’re welcome,” the old woman said, joining her husband and Caleb climbed out. “I hope you and your brother have safe travels. Please be careful.”
“We will,” Caleb said, shaking her hand. “And you too! God be with you.”
She smiled a wrinkled smile, and I followed Caleb out of the truck. We were at a gas station, the biggest one I’d ever seen.
Caleb didn’t say anything for a minute until we were well out of earshot. “My ass is numb,” he complained.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. My mouth felt like paste. “Do you have any water?”
“Sure.” Caleb went into his backpack and pulled out a bottle, handing it to me. “This is a truck stop,” he said, turning around. “A big one. That might be good.”
“Yeah?”
“They might have a pawn shop. I have a couple things I could sell.”
“You do?”
“Sure. But also — you never know. We could find somebody who was heading east, and offer them a hundred bucks to take the both of us. I mean, they’re going anyway.”
“That would be lucky. If they have room.”
“Let’s try it,” he said, taking the water and downing a gulp for himself. “Put on that friendly face again.”
But it was a no go.
Caleb approached maybe ten different guys as they waited for their massive tractor trailers to refuel. He got variations on one answer: “even if I was headed your way, it’s against my truck line’s policy to pick up hitchhikers.”
I became thoroughly discouraged.
“It only takes one,” Caleb reasoned. “Let’s ask a couple more times. Then we’ll take a break for supper. I’m starved. And a truck stop has to have food.”
Caleb approached the mangiest looking guy we’d seen yet. He had stringy hair and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. “Excuse me, sir. Is there any chance you’re headed east?”
The guy looked up from the diesel pump and gave Caleb a crooked grin. “Might be. Who wants to know?”
“My brother and I are stranded. We’ve only got a hundred dollars, and we need to get as close to Massachusetts as we can.”
“Is that right?” He shifted the cigarette from one side of his mouth to the other. Then he checked over his shoulder before speaking again. “I’ll make you an offer. I’ll get you as far as New York…”
“New York is good,” Caleb said quickly.
“…But I need a favor from each of you. One favor a day until we get there.”
Caleb’s eyes went stormy, and I didn’t know why.
“What favor?” I asked.
The greasy man laughed, shaking his head. “Blow jobs, moron.”
