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I said, "I’ht now That’s the whole story Okay, I gotta go I’m crunched for time here I have ht grasp Before they could say anything, I bounded down the stairs and took off, sprinting back toward the ear and was starting to er’s seat

"Get the beer and get out of the car!" I shouted

"We’re co with," he said "You’d fall asleep if you tried to drive for that long anyway"

I turned back, and Lacey and Radar were both holding cell phones to their ears "Gotta tellthe phone "C’o"

PART THREE

The

Vessel

The First Hour

It takes a little while for everyone to explain to their parents that 1 We’re all going toto New York, to 3 See a town that may or may not technically exist, and hopefully 4 Intercept the O to the Randoelet off the phone, and when he finally does, he says, "I’d like to make an announceraduation My girlfriend is also annoyed, because ere scheduled to do soet into details about it, but this had better be one fun road trip"

"Your ability to not lose your virginity is an inspiration to us all," Ben says next to h the rearview mirror "WOOHOO ROAD TRIP!" I tell him In spite of hi

By noe are on I-4, and traffic is fairly light, which in and of itself is borderline ht miles an hour over the fifty-five-miles-per-hour speed liet pulled over until you’re going nine miles an hour over the speed limit

Very quickly, we all settle into our roles

In the wayback, Lacey is the provisioner She lists aloud everything we currently have for the trip: the half of a Snickers that Ben was eating when I called about Margo; the 212 beers in the back; the directions I printed out; and the following iteulasses, some ChapStick, her house keys, a YMCA membership card, a library card, some receipts, thirty-five dollars, and a BP card

Fro! We’re like under-provisioned pioneers! I e had h"

"At least we have the BP card," I say "We can get gas and food"

I look up into the rearviewover into Lacey’s purse The graduation gown has a bit of a low-cut neck, so I can see soot any boxers in there?" he asks

"Seriously, we better be stopping at the Gap," Ben adds

Radar’s job, which he begins with the calculator on his handheld, is Research and Calculations He’s alone in the row of seats behind me, with the directions and theout how fast we need to travel in order to make it by noon tomorro many ti out of gas, the locations of BP stations on our route and how long each stop will be, and howdown to exit

"We gotta stop four tias The stops will have to be very very short Sixareas of construction, plus traffic in Jacksonville, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia, although it will help that we’re driving through DC around three in thespeed should be around seventy-two How fast are you going?"

"Sixty-three," I say "The speed limit is fifty-five"

"Go seventy-two," he says

"I can’t; it’s dangerous, and I’ll get a ticket"

"Go seventy-two," he says again I press as The difficulty is partly that I ao seventy-two and partly that the ins to shake in a way that iht fall apart I stay in the far left lane, even though I’m still not the fastest car on the road, and I feel bad that people are passing ht, but I need clear road ahead, because unlike everyone else on this road, I can’t slon And this is my role: my role is to drive, and to be nervous It occurs to me that I have played this role before

And Ben? Ben’s role is to need to pee At first it see about hoe don’t have any CDs and that all the radio stations in Orlando suck except for the college radio station, which is already out of range But soon enough, he abandons that role for his true and faithful calling: needing to pee

"I need to pee," he says at 3:06 We’ve been on the road for forty-three minutes We have approxiood news is that ill be stopping The bad news is that it won’t be for another four hours and thirty minutes"

"I think I can hold it," Ben says At 3:10, he announces, "Actually, I really need to pee Really"

The chorus responds, "Hold it" He says, "But I--" And the chorus responds again, "Hold it!" It is fun, for now, Ben needing to pee and us needing hi makes him need to pee more Lacey ju at his sides He laughs and whines and I laugh, too, keeping the speedometer on seventy-two I wonder if she created this journey for us on purpose or by accident--regardless, it’s the most fun I’ve had since the last time I spent hours behind the wheel of aWe turn north, onto I-95, snaking our way up Florida, near the coast but not quite on it It is all pine trees here, too skinny for their height, built like I a cars and occasionally being passed by the to reme and who is drifting away

Lacey and Ben are sitting together on the bench seat now, and Radar is in the wayback, and they’re all playing a retarded version of I Spy in which they are only allowed to spy things that cannot physically be seen

"I Spy with ically hip," Radar says

"Is it the way Ben sht side of his ooey about Ben It’s gross"

"Is it the idea of wearing nothing under your graduation gown and then having to drive to New York while all the people in passing cars assu a dress?"

"No," says Radar "That’s just tragic"

Lacey set to enjoy the breeze"

"Oh, I know!" I say from the front "You spy a twenty-four-hour road trip in a ic because the gas we’re guzzling will destroy the planet"