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Though they could certainly burn a hole in a man’s pocket The last purchase he’dpiece of which would serve as his breakfast as soon as he finished inventorying the trunk) was five Swedish sta his cash on hand to 187 plus the change in his pocket Since then, the pizza had clai lot 7, and he had to buy enough gas to get hiure fifteen hundred , call it twenty allon, and what did that come to?

He ran the nu up with different answers, and finally he took out a pen and a scrap of paper and worked it out The nuh to him, and especially so in view of the fact that it enty-two dollars more than he had to his name

And he would need iving anyone a good look at him, but he’d still have to part with cash And sooner or later -- and it had better be sooner -- he was going to have to buy a baseball cap, and soe his hair color, and soive hi shears in the tool chest, and if he’d been a rosebush they ood job on a hus he needed almost always took credit cards, but if he used one he’d be in worse shape than he was now

If he had hung on to the 600, he’d be okay He’d still have proble out of money wouldn’t be one of them

Instead, he had five little pieces of paper Once they could have been used to mail a letter, if he’d happened to be in Sweden and if there happened to be soood for that

He felt like Jack, the young genius who’d traded the faic beans As he reht for Jack in the end

But that, he reminded himself, was a fairy story

10

Two hours later he crossed the Mississippi at Clinton A fewE, he pulled up to one of the full-service puas station They seemed to be in the middle of the local equivalent of rush hour, which struck Keller as all to the good

The attendant looked to be just out of high school, and trying to co the rest of his life on the outskirts of Morrison, Illinois He had earbuds and looked like an intern with a stethoscope, but Keller could see the iPod in the bib pocket of his overalls, and whatever he was listening to was evidentlythan Keller

He’d lowered the sun visor and positioned it to block the upper half of the side hich gave the kid less of a view of his face He asked for forty dollars’ worth of regular; he’d have just as soon filled the tank to the briot things going, then came back to ask him if he wanted the oil checked Keller told him not to bother

"I had one just like that," the kid said "That li’l bucket? With the yellow puppy dogs on it? For the beach, you know?"

"My kid’s crazy about it," Keller said

"Wonder what ever beca Keller kneiping the windshield and h job of it Keller wanted to tell him to skip that, too, but then the boy would have to wonder what Keller was doing in the full-service section if he didn’t want any service He let hi his face with it

He wiped the rear , too, and when he’d finished he came over to the driver’s side and Keller handed hi him a third twenty for his cap, which said OshKosh B’Gosh in flowing script that ht Or ood way to avoid attracting attention

He’d have welcos in the station’s convenience store Or use the men’s room But he had the tank filled, or h for now

He kept going eastbound on Route 30, holding the car to fifty-fiveto the posted speed liht after he crossed I-39 he spotted a Burger King with a drive-up , and he ordered enough burgers and fries and shakes for a whole faet a look at the server, and didn’t think anyone could have gotten a look at him, and in no time at all he was back on the road

The next town he cans for Shabbona State Park, and there he was able to eat at a picnic table and use a restroo

There was a pay phone, and he was te to the radio news, his license plate switch had been successful; the prevailing opinion was that Holden Blankenship had soed to board a plane at Des Moines International Airport Predictably, there had been sightings A woman who’d flown from Des Moines to Kansas City was certain she’d spotted Blankenship in the flight lounge adjoining hers, waiting for a Continental departure to Los Angeles She’d been this close to saying so to soht and she was anxious to get holi froe cities on both coasts A on, swore he’d seen Blankenship "or his twin brother" standing in front of that city’s Greyhound bus ter a lariat, with a six-shooter on each hip Keller had never dressed like a cowboy or twirled a lariat, nor could he recall a visit to Klaon, and re wasn’t all that far froon in his door pocket, and was reaching for it to check the precise location of Klamath Falls when he reminded himself that he really didn’t care where the toas He wasn’t going there, after all, wasn’t even heading in that direction, so the hell with it