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His head felt large and heavy, its weight more than his neck could support Ty slumped lower to lean his head on the seat back His hat was pushed farther forward, angling down over his eyes

The headlight bea the high grass and weeds that choked the shoulder Everything else was blackness Ty stared into the edges of the scrubby growth, but it rushed by too quickly for him to focus on it

All night long he’d put on a jocular show of good huer, but no

w the shoas ending His tongue tasted acrid Things were supposed to be so fine and so right, but not even his parents were happy A dull rage raht about his father, always so da his damned code Everyone was supposed to live by it but him

Drunkenly Ty cranked the side n and let the outside air rush into the cab, then sluainst the seat After the first sweet sainst hi hi aside for an instant for fear it would be interpreted as a sign of weakness

The pickup slowed and y mind was slow to react to what his eyes saw They ell past the siate before Ty realized where they were

“Pull over” He had to make a couple of trys before he was able to sit more erectly in the seat The truck’s rate of speed didn’t change “I said pull over,” he repeated the order

“I can’t stop in the middle of the road,” Jessy explained “You’ll have to wait until there’s room on the shoulder so we can pull off”

“I want you to pull over now!” He grabbed the wheel to turn it himself

The truck swerved sharply for the ditch, the suddenhim away from the wheel Jessy was able to wrench it back just in tihts veered away froside the road When he rily shoved him away

“You’re going to get us killed” She was forced to slow the truck in order to keep control of it “If you’re going to be sick, just hang your head out the ”

“No You stop this truck so I can get out” Ty groped for the ignition keys

“All right All right!” She was furious at his foolish and dangerous behavior as she pushed her foot on the brake pedal and the pickup skidded to a halt “There, it’s stopped” He was already turning and aardly searching for the door handle Jessy gripped the steering wheel with both hands, flexing theer that had cohtened She watched him lurch out of the truck “I should just leave you here,” she ht sober you up”

But her threat went unnoticed as Ty weaved into the darkness, stu a couple of tries to climb out of it before he succeeded Jessy kept an eye on his black silhouette as he ht he was seeking the privacy of the darkness to urinate Then she saw him stop and look around in a lost way

When he lurched forward to walk farther froht Hurriedly, she climbed out of the pickup to follow hi what kind of crazy notion he had If he slipped or fell so to find him