Box. Part 6

I open the glove box, pop the trunk.

"What are you doing?"

"I can't leave him like this. He's in pain."

"The man tried to hang you."

"Good point."

"And anyway, we're gonna call an ambulance from the highway, remember?"

"I know. But in the meantime, he could go into shock."

"Is there something you can do to prevent that?"

"My medical bag's in the wheel well, under the spare tire."

"Okay, but let's do this quickly, okay?"

"Why the rush?"

"I don't expect you to understand, but I've tried to escape this town six times and never got past Starbucks. Somethin' always happens at the last second."

"You've got a Starbuck's here in Clayton? No s.h.i.+t?"

"No, of course not. Starbucks is a town, twenty miles south of here."

I grab my bag and a towel from my suit bag, and head back inside. Trudy's a step behind saying, "Who packs a beach towel to go to Western Kentucky?"

"Believe it or not," I say, "Clayton wasn't my destination."

"Where were you headed?"

"Ralston."

"Why?"

"It's personal."

"Personal means a woman. It's a woman, right?"

I sigh.

Trudy says, "Good thing you met me when you did."

"Why's that?"

"Whoever she is, I'm way more fun."

I stop a moment to look at her.

She shrugs. "It's true, Gideon."

I say, "In the two hours I've been here, I've been knocked out cold, tied to a chair, hung by my neck to die, and had a roof come cras.h.i.+ng down on me."

"So?"

"Where's all this fun you're talking about?"

"Are you always this negative?"

"Yes."

"You know how I see the last two hours?"

"Tell me."

"You had a wonderful home-cooked meal, you French-kissed the Wilford County homecomin' queen, you felt her up, and found true love."

"True love?"

"Well, far as you know."

"What does that mean?"

"I got a feelin' about you. And you're about to get me on a road trip. Not many men can say that."

"How many, exactly?"

"Let's just fix my Daddy's leg and get out of here," she says.

As we approach Scooter, he says, "Don't let him touch me, Trudy. He's gonna give me an overdose and kill me."

"Don't be silly, Daddy. He's a doctor. And a d.a.m.n fine one, too."

"You've only got his word for that."

"I trust him. Now let him give you somethin' for the pain."

As I cover him with my beach towel he says to Trudy, "You know what he said to me a minute ago?"

"What's that, Daddy?"

"He said he was gonna think about me every time he f.u.c.ks you."

She looks at me and says, "You said that?"

I shrug, check his pulse.

She says, "Well, how thoughtful is that! Weird, but thoughtful."

She thinks on it a minute, while I check his pupils with my penlight, then says, "More weird than thoughtful, I think."

By then I've given him a shot of morphine. When he seems stable, we head for the car.

"CAN WE GO now?" she says.

We're in the car again, but this time I'm holding the keys.

"Look," I say. "I appreciate the compliment, I really do. And I understand how things happen at warp speed in small towns. But I met you exactly two hours ago. And while this might come as a shock, I'm not ready to let you move in with me."

"Why not?"

"I don't even know your middle name."

"Leigh. Can we go now?"

I shake my head. "That was a figure of speech. What I mean is I don't know you well enough to take on whatever baggage you might bring."

"Like what?"

"Your father's the deputy sheriff. He tried to hang me just now. And your brother sounds scary."

"All you've heard about my brother is his name."

"The way your father said his name was scary."

"Where's your sense of adventure, Gideon?"

"Sorry."

She sighs heavily. "How long would it take you to know me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can't be puttin' too much time into this relations.h.i.+p if it's not goin' anywhere."

"It's not so much a time thing."

"Then what is it?"

"I can't just take you out of town with me."

"Why not?"

"I mean, I don't even know if we're compatible yet."

"Our kiss didn't tell you that?"

"s.e.x would say it better."

She frowns. "Are you playin' me?"

"I'm not sure what that means."

"What type of girl would I be if I dropped my drawers for the first guy who offered to drive me out of town?"

"Based on what you said, I might be the seventh guy."

"You're makin' way too many a.s.sumptions about my last six attempts to escape this s.h.i.+t hole. For your information, I only ran off with one man. The other times were on my own."

"What happened to him?"

"Who?"

"The guy you ran off with?"

"It didn't take."

"Which is my point exactly."

"Again, you're makin' way too many a.s.sumptions. The reason it didn't take is because he died."

"Excuse me?"

"He had a heart attack."

"Where?"

"Starbucks."

"The town?"

"The motel at Starbucks. I don't like to talk about it."

"He died during s.e.x?"

"Just before."

"How old was he?"