Together, Miss Warner, Paul, Vern, Pete, Reese, and Ruth sat in their bucket seats, watching the world go by through the glass. Trees flew past them at lightning speed. An entire countryside passed them in only a few blinks.

“You alright?” Paul asked Miss Warner.

“I’ll be better once we get off this behemoth,” she said.

He tugged at his collar. He wore a suit and tie that Miss Warner had bought for him in town. It was the cheapest one the store had, and it made him itch all over. Ruth wore a frilly dress, trimmed with a blue sash. Vern wore what he always wore—his overalls—with a scuffed jacket.

To see the world go by at eye level like this was quite a feeling. It made Paul’s stomach swim to climb tall hills, then roll down them. It was like one of the rides at the fair—only this ride had velvet seats and cost approximately the same price as dental surgery.

But this was not just scenery zipping past him, he thought. This was life going by right before his eyes. And all he could do was stay in his seat. That was all anyone could do. Before he knew it, he would soon be looking behind himself and seeing a whole world. Faraway. Like it belonged to other people. People he did not belong to.

“What’re you thinking about?” said Reese, who sat across from Paul.

“Nothing, baby.”

“You don’t look like you’re thinking about nothing.”

“What do you think I’m thinking about?”

“I don’t know.”

“Neither do I.”

He was thinking about how it had only taken a few years for Reese to become a magnificent female, with all the class of a set of fine china. Paul was thinking about how beautiful she was, and how much she looked like her mother. He was thinking about how just yesterday she was a child who looked to him for safety, food, and shelter. And now she would look to another. He thought of how empty life would be after he walked her down the aisle and gave her away. That’s what he was thinking.

“Are you sad?” Reese asked.

“Sad? No, baby. I’m happy as a lark.”

“Really?”

“I couldn’t be happier if I were four people instead of one.”

“I’m so nervous.”

“That’s normal,” he said. “When I got married, I puked outside the chapel. I almost didn’t go through with it.”

“I didn’t know you were married,” said Reese.

“Once.”

“To a woman? You?”

“That’s generally how it works.”

“What happened to her?”

“Tuberculosis.”