All The Darkness You Need

Chapter 7: The Final Stretch

When they got to the car Jen was in the back seat drinking a bottled iced coffee. The boys got in the car and Jen smiled.

"Are you guys gonna fuck around in there all night? I thought this was a race," she said and the boys yelled like rebels and jumped in the car.

Dan drove as fast as he ever had, desert gravel flew, and Jesse turned back to look at Jen.

"So you ain't afraid to ride with us?"

"I've ridden with your dead asses all the way from Florida. It's the craziest thing I've ever imagined but what difference does it make now? Fuck it. I'm going to California one way or the other!"

"This is for you then," Jesse said and he handed Jen the yellow rose.

She said, "Thank you," and smelled it and placed it on the shiny seat beside her.

The car sped through Yuma and in time they crossed into California and the three racers cheered.

The late afternoon fell dim as they made the interstates into Los Angeles and along the way traffic grew more persistent. Jesse checked the map and noted mile markers that they passed. He calculated that they would be close to the truck stop around seven p.m. or just about dark.

They drove through the traffic at as fast of a pace as they could manage. At dark Jesse said, "This should be it."

Dan took the exit and at the bottom there was a brightly lit truck stop and they made a few lights and pulled in. Dan drove to the front of the main building that housed the station store and a diner. The boys jumped out and Jen followed. They looked around but could find no sign of the man who had organized the race. They saw no other racers and they never saw the Chevelle and in time the three decided to eat in the diner.

They ate a delicious breakfast meal with waffles and eggs and bacon and coffee. They talked about their adventure on the road. They spoke of the bridges in Florida and of the flat roads and palm trees in the panhandle. They spoke about the fog in Louisiana that Jen had not seen. They spoke of the desert roads through Texas and of the painted mountains and the old saguaro cactus plains. Of the shadowed mountains and the rolling hills of Arizona. And in time the boys decided that they would make their way back to Florida and they wished Jen well. Jesse told Jen that the race always starts on October thirty-first, and that it ends on November second around dark at this truck stop. Jen stood and took up her yellow rose and she walked outside just behind the two boys to watch them leave in their beautiful car but when she got outside the car was gone.