One Week - By Nikki Van De Car Page 0,50

control that he just drove his car off the road. “Don't bother,” I hiss at Jess. “Let's just get out of this in one piece.” After a moment he nods tightly and lets me do the talking.

“I think that was a little more excitement than we needed,” I say, as calmly as I can. “What's wrong with the car?”

Mr. Mackey gives a disgusted grunt and climbs out of the car. He fights his way through the corn to open the hood. He stands back, waving a hand at the smoke. “Yep, that's what I thought,” he calls. “Engine blew. It's been threatening to do that for a while now.” He leaves the hood open. I don't see any flames, but it occurs to me that perhaps it might be a good idea to get away from the car. Far away. I unbuckle us and practically shove Jess out the door.

We stumble through the corn and out onto the empty road. As we look around, I think about how long it's been since we passed another car. I pull out my cell phone—it's a quarter to six already.

“Are you sure you're okay?” Jess asks, touching my arm.

“I'm fine,” I say. “Or I will be once we get moving. It's going to be dark soon.” I turn to call out to Mr. Mackey to offer him the use of my cell, when to my surprise I hear him talking on his own. I wouldn't have thought he'd be the type to even carry a phone. Of course, he could be talking to himself.

Jess and I squat down on the shoulder to wait. I look at him sideways, checking to see if he's okay. “Want to thumb wrestle?” I joke.

Jess rolls his eyes at me, and then Mr. Mackey calls, “Good news!” He emerges from the corn with a big grin on his face. “We're only about twenty or so miles from Tiffin. My buddy doesn't get off work for another couple of hours, but when he's done he says he'll come out here and tow us back to the garage, and you kids can get on from there.”

Jess and I stand up, and look at each other. “No thanks,” we say simultaneously. There's just no way we're staying with Mr. Mackey for another two hours. Surely another car will pass by and we can keep moving for a little while longer.

“We'll just start walking and keep an eye out for another ride,” Jess continues. “It was, uh, nice meeting you, and…” he trails off.

“And thanks for the ride,” I finish. I'm amazed Jess managed to choke out that much.

“Not a problem,” Mr. Mackey says. “I always like to pick up folks when I can.”

“And I'm sure they are just beside themselves with joy,” Jess mutters. I tug at his arm to get us moving and we wave goodbye to Mr. Mackey.

“Thanks again,” I say, and we walk quickly away. “Are you okay?” I ask Jess.

He rolls his eyes. “I'm fine. I mean, I'm not hurt or anything. I just…I really don't like cars,” he explains.

“Yeah, I kind of picked up on that,” I say, laughing softly.

“Do you know what the statistics are on car accident deaths?” Jess asks defensively. “Somebody dies every thirteen minutes. That could have been our thirteen minutes, thanks to that fake hippie asshole. I know you were right, it was better just to walk away, but think about the next poor bastards that accept a ride from that guy!” Jess shoves his hands in his pockets and starts walking really fast, and I run to catch up.

“Hey!” I call. “It's okay! We're okay, it's over.”

“This is so stupid!” Jess responds furiously. “You could have been really badly hurt, Bee, and I would have been responsible! I should never have let you do this!”

I stop walking. The highway stretches out in front of us, and Jess keeps walking, his head down and his shoulders hunched up tight. “What's stupid?” I call after him. “Fighting in the middle of the street over nothing, or you suddenly deciding that you're somehow the boss of me?”

Jess turns around and opens his mouth to yell at me again, but then he turns at looks out into the cornfield for a moment, breathing deeply. When he's a little calmer, he walks back over to me. “Sorry,” he says tightly. “You're right, I said that wrong. I meant, it's stupid to be hitchhiking and we should have just taken the money from Martha and Herbert