Welch probably culled from the yearbook. The caption beneath read: Peter Welch, victim of fatal hit-and-run incident that police feel may have been murder.
The hitchhiker unrolled his window three inches and crisp cold air came in, driving that smell away. Inside McD's, Arnie had reached the counter and was giving his order. Looking at him, Leigh experienced such an odd swirl of love and fear that she felt nauseated by the mixture - for the second or third time lately she found herself wishing that she had fixed on Dennis first. Dennis who seemed so safe and sensible. . . .
She turned her thoughts away from that.
'Just tell me if it gets cold on you,' the hitchhiker said apologetically. 'I'm weird, I know it.' He sighed. 'Sometimes I think I never should have given up drugs, you know?'
Leigh smiled.
Arnie came out with a white bag, skidded a little in the snow, and then got behind the wheel.
'Cold like an icebox in here,' he grunted.
'Sorry, man,' the hitchhiker said from the back, and rolled the window up again. Leigh waited to see if that smell would come back, but now she could smell nothing but leather, upholstery, and the faint aroma of Arnie's aftershave.
'Here you go, Leigh.' He gave her a burger, fries, and a small Coke. He had gotten himself a Big Mac.
'Want to thank you again for the ride, man,' the hitchhiker said. 'You can just drop me off at the corner of JFK and Center, if that's cool.'
'Fine,' Arnie said shortly, and pulled out. The snow was coming down even more heavily now, and the wind had begun to whoop. For the first time Leigh felt Christine skid a bit as she felt for a grip on the wide street, which was now almost deserted. They were less than fifteen minutes from home.
With the smell gone, Leigh discovered that her appetite had come back. She wolfed half of her hamburger, drank some Coke, and stifled a burp with the back of her hand. The corner of Center and JFK, marked with a war memorial, came up on the left, and Arnie pulled over, pumping the brakes lightly so Christine wouldn't slide.
'Have a nice weekend,' Arnie said. He sounded more like his usual self now. Maybe all he needed was some food, Leigh thought, amused.
'Same goes to both of you,' the hitchhiker said. 'And have a merry Christmas.'
'You too,' Leigh said. She took another bite of her hamburger, chewed, swallowed . . . and felt it lodge halfway down her throat. Suddenly she couldn't breathe.
The hitchhiker was getting out. The noise of the door opening was very loud. The sound of the latch clicking sounded like the thud of tumblers falling in a bank-vault. The sound of the wind was like a factory whistle.
(this is stupid I know but I can't Arnie I can't breathe)
I'm choking! she tried to say, and what came out was a faint, fuzzy sound that she was sure the whine of the wind must have covered. She clawed at her throat and it felt swollen and throbbing in her hand. She tried to scream. No breath to scream, no breath
(Arnie I can't)
at all, and she could feel it in there., a warm lump of burger and bun. She tried to cough it up and it wouldn't come. The dashboard lights, bright green, circular,
(cat like the eyes of a cat dear God I can't BREATHE)
watching her -
(God I can't BREATHE can't BREATHE can't)
Her chest began to pound for air. Again she tried to cough up the lump of half-chewed burger and bun in her throat, but it wouldn't come. Now the sound of the wind was bigger than the world, bigger than any sound she had ever heard before, and Arnie was finally turning away from the hitchhiker to look at her; he was turning in slow motion, his eyes widening almost comically, and even his voice seemed too loud, like thunder, the voice of Zeus speaking to some poor mortal from behind a massy skystack of thunderclouds:
'LEIGH . . . ARE YOU . . . WHAT THE HELL? . . . SHE'S CHOKING! OH MY GOD SHE'S -'
He reached for her in slow motion, and then he drew his hands back, immobilized by panic
(Oh help me help me for God's sake do something I'm dying oh my dear God I'm choking to death on a McDonald's hamburger Arnie why don't you HELP ME?)
and of course she knew why, he drew back because Christine didn't