“You’re so weird,” she says, and puts her earbuds back in.

Ellie’s got her atlas open across her lap and I can tell she’s listening to us. She glances over her shoulder at Ruth. Then she looks up at me and catches me looking back.

“Hey,” she says. “Do you know the alphabet game?”

“The one where you see who can find the alphabet first on, like, license plates and billboards and stuff?” I say.

“Yep. Bet you can’t beat me.”

“Oh, you’re on,” I say. “Ruth, we’re gonna play the alphabet game.”

“No thanks,” Ruth says, flipping a page in her notebook.

I lean a little farther out from my loft. “You sure? It’s fun.”

She adjusts her earbuds. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“But—”

“That’s fine,” Ellie interjects. She looks up at me and winks. “If Ruth doesn’t want to play, that’s fine. It’ll just be us two, and I’m still totally going to beat you. Eddie, you’re our referee.”

“Aye-aye, captain,” he says.

Is it fine? Isn’t Ruth missing out? But Ellie turns in her seat, looking out the windshield, then her side window. “A … B!”

I grin. The game’s afoot! I hurry and flip myself over so I’m facing the front window, ready to scan for letters. Can’t let Ellie get too much of a head start.

For the next little while, Ellie and I call out letters. We both get stuck on V for a long time until we spot a sign for a veterinary clinic. After I win the game at the last second (hooray for pizza billboards), Eddie takes an exit off the freeway and pulls into a QT gas station (could have used that one a few letters ago). I tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear and climb down out of my loft. I think about bringing my camera, just in case, but lugging my camera into a gas station might make Ruth think I’m even weirder.

Instead I meander around the shelves. I halfway start looking for things I could take pictures of for New Treasure, but it’s not quite time yet. Close, though. We’re getting closer and closer to New Orleans. I look at a spinning display of key chains. My favorite one says, I’m not bossy, I’m just always right.

Whether or not it’s New Treasure time, my mind still settles back to photography. There’s a sunburned man in a Stetson by the beer and a couple of girls with big, curly hair looking through magazines, and sometime I want to try one of those Portraits of Strangers projects I’ve seen. Projects where photographers go around interviewing random strangers, taking incredibly open and precise photos of someone they’ve barely met.