When we get going he makes me ask permission to turn on the radio. I do but ain’t ever gonna again. The Little Devil keeps talking over the music about revenge. The car swerves and Jesse says it’s a blowout. He tells me to come help him change the tire. I want to tell him to fuck himself but I’m scared. I remember him choking me. I remember fighting to breathe and not getting air and fighting to breathe and almost swallowing my tongue and fighting to breathe and forgetting how.

I’m shaking such I can’t hold the flashlight still. Jesse yells at me and the Little Devil’s yelling too. If a dog bites once he’ll bite twice, he says. Careful he don’t brain you with that wrench. I can’t think straight with all the noise in my head. When Jesse goes to put the jack in the trunk I walk up and get in the driver seat. That’s when the Little Devil takes over. It’s him who touches the one wire to the two to spark the engine. It’s him who puts the Galaxie in R and gives it gas. It’s him who runs Jesse over and drives off. Don’t look back, he says, keep your eyes on the road.

I don’t think about nothing but driving. I ain’t never done it alone before. You got to do all the concentrating yourself. You got to steer and work the gas and watch what’s coming all at the same time. The Little Devil goes back in his hole. Got nothing more to say.

I stop at the first motel I come to. Jesse’s wallet’s in the glove box and there’s money in it. The lights are out in the motel office. I knock on the door and ring the bell. A Chinaman answers grumbling about it’s late. I tell him I had a flat tire. He comes back with a key and says there’s no hot water in the room but it’s the only one he’s got on account of there’s a highway crew staying there. I say cold water’ll be fine.

The room’s on the second floor. I get my grip and Jesse’s out of the car and carry them up. I take the guns too. The room smells sour and there’s a bug in the sink. The television goes on but no channels come in. I get my cards out and deal two hands for Crazy Eights. It’s no fun playing myself.

I open Jesse’s grip and look through it. His shaving kit the photo book and them sunglasses Johona give him. I hear him telling me to leave his gear be. I hear me saying, Why? You ain’t got nothing anybody’d want to steal.