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"Want to do me a favor?"

"You don’t knoho’s in the Escort, do you?"

"Not a clue"

Bobby sighed, said, "I’ll make a call"

"When you find out, call hborhood in case there’s trouble"

"Trouble?" Shelby said the word like she had just heard it for the first time "Why does there always need to be trouble?"

I didn’t kno to answer that

"I understand why Bobby takes risks," Shelby said "It’s his job But why do you?"

"We all take risks everyday, Shel We all walk down dark alleys without knohat lurks in the shadows"

"Metaphorically speaking," said Bobby

"We risk death riding in hurtling autoolf balls that are sliced out of bounds and from burritos that aren’t cooked properly There are diseases waiting for us out there that we’ve never even heard of and probably couldn’t pronounce if we had--"

"Here we go," Shelby said like she had heard it all before, which, of course, she had

"The thing is, ain’t no one getting out of here alive, so we ht as well have some fun while we can Besides"

"Live well, be useful," Bobby said

"I bet I could learn to like you if I worked at it," I told hirow up I want to be just like you"

"You’re both a couple of cowboys," Shelby insisted

Who e to argue?

I explained that instructions for using the redients I told them if I wasn’t back in time, they should call my cell with questions about setup and operation Then I headed for the door

I walked briskly to hts flashed and doors unlocked Once inside the two-seat sports car, I started the engine and waited The Ford waited, too I pulled away from the curb The Ford did the sa a left It followed

He’s not being careful at all

I flashed on my assailant in the Minneapolis skyway, heard the voice of htened Nor was I particularly angry Mostly I was curious