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“One of the Ag far, if you don’t mind?”

“I never got lunch,” he said “Burger King sounds great At this point Purina Dog Choould probably sound pretty good”

“Let’s say Burger King”

“WELC…BRRGRR…KI…” crackled the voice through the loudspeaker I couldn’t even tell if the person was male or female I hoped they’d be able to hear me better than I could hear them “W…LIKE…TRY OUR zzttzztt COMBO…DAY?”

I didn’t knohat I’d just been offered, but I did know that I didn’t want a combo “I’d like a Whopper and a sweet tea, please,” I said I spoke up, because the sound syste well

“zzttzztt TEA?”

“Sweet tea,” I said loudly “Do you have sweet tea?”

“zzttzztt TEA?”

“Sweet tea!” I shouted “Sweet tea! If you don’t have sweet tea, regular tea’s okay!”

“zzttzztt TEA…ELSE?”

“That’s it!” I yelled “Just the Whopper and the tea!”

A youngover one shoulder, looked at ave me a wide berth

“YOU SAID A…zzttzztt AND…zzttzztt…TOTAL COMES…zzttzztt…WINDOW”

Just as I was pulling away from the speaker, I noticed a display mounted underneath It read WHOPPER, SWEET TEA, 387 Clearly I wasn’t the only one who’d had trouble with the audio syste the adget I fished my wallet out of my hip pocket and extracted a five-dollar bill as I eased around the building to the drive-up

I waited several ave a quick tap on the horn Still no response Behind er than my polite little toot I checked thebehind Cash’s car Now both of theo the Whopper, and gunned the gas Suddenly an ared from a -a second drive-up hich I hadn’t noticed-and waved frantically I nearly clipped the hand with my outside mirror

A pleasant young woman, probably a UT student, opened theand smiled “I was about to send out a search party for you,” she said brightly “Your order cohty-seven” I held out the five Sheand a heavy cup “Enjoy your meal,” she said

“THANK…zztt…MUH,” I said, delivering my best imitation of the faulty loudspeaker

She looked startled, maybe even alarmed Thesnapped shut

I’dfar up out of the bag, alers of aro as I could, which wasn’t long-just long enough to get fro with ht curves, I fished out the burger and unfolded the wrapper to expose half the sandwich My , despite what Jeff had told -orthat the Whopper

had a dark side beneath those grill ? I’d never been particularly attracted by the idea of illicit sex, but I knew that so like their experience Maybe this, I thought, taking a greedy breath, is the sweet smell of forbidden fruit Brockton, you are one reckless daredevil The truck swerved as rab for the wheel with ain, I hoisted the burger with my left hand and bit down “Mrease, sens crescendoed in my mouth

Chewing contentedly, I led Cash up the ramp onto James White Parkway, down the ra farm above the river confluence As we passed the barn and the equipment shed, I noticed that the water truck’s windshield had been replaced but the deep dent in the hood re and the silver paint was peeling off the water tank, so I didn’t feel too bad Besides, I’d done so to the fary with a couple of cases of beer

Cash and I bu a pair of ruts to an unburned part of the pasture and pulled to a stop beside Jason Story Jason was reclining in a folding ca kind, with a footrest and drink holders and probably a e and a television set tucked away somewhere He was slouched, a floppy hat pulled low over his eyes, his chin practically on his chest, and when I saw hiht, Oh, Lord, he’s fallen asleep But then I saw his right index finger twitch, and he raised a handheld electronic display from his lap to his face His left hand cauisher standing in the grass beside him

Jason barely glanced in our direction e got out of our vehicles and slammed the doors His attention alternated between the electronic display in his hand and the 2006 Lexus SUV that idled in the grass ten feet in front of him