There wasn’t a sound anywhere. Like in the jungle at night when it’s so quiet you know something’s fixing to happen. I was lying on the front seat of her car. I had a bunch of dents in my face from being pressed up against the seat. I think she must have tried to move me at first. I was just too heavy for her. I’d burned a hole in my shirt with a cigarette. Spilled beer all over myself.
“It was getting daylight. I sat up and looked around. I didn’t see her at first. I got me a cigarette and lit it. Beer was all down in the floorboards. I figured she was gone. Then I saw her sitting on a bank by the roadside. We were on a dirt road up in the woods. She had her knees drawn up and her head down on her arms. I don’t know if she’d been crying or what. I hated to even try to explain.
“I got out. I had to tell her what it was. She raised her head when the interior light came on. But I went ahead and shut the door. I didn’t know what to tell her. It was awful. The truth won’t always set you free.
