“Professor,” Woman Pat said as she stepped out into the dusty parking area. She gave me a hug.

Man Pat came out onto the gravel yard.

“Are you still alive?” I asked. “Why hasn’t someone buried you?”

“Dying is too expensive.”

“That’s what I hear.” I shook his hand, his grip surprising me, as always. I nodded toward Hilary. “Pats, this is Professor Gill.”

“You’re too young to be a professor,” Woman Pat said. “We’re used to these old farts like Zach.”

Man Pat shook Hilary’s hand in an exaggeratedly flirtatious way, stopping just short of giving her knuckles a kiss. “Professor Gill.”

“Hilary, please.”

“Did he make you ride in that microwave of his?” Woman Pat asked. “He’s not a nice man. Come in and let’s find you something cold to drink.”

A couple of cars of students rolled in, and the quiet little store was quiet no more. Another car arrived. Rachel Charles got out of that one and waved to me. It made me feel awkward as none of the other students had greeted me at all. Hilary caught my reaction and laughed to tease me.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said. I followed her and the Pats into the store. We stood around at the counter and drank soda while the students stocked up on snacks, drinks. I looked at the array of fan belts that hung on the wall behind the register. They were all dusty, and I was fairly certain that most wouldn’t fit anything on the road now.

“Excuse me. This is okay, right, prof?” a young man asked, showing me a six-pack of beer.

“You realize that’s pretty shitty beer?”

“Yeah, I know, but is it okay if I buy it?”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-two,” he said.

“Then it’s okay. But please go easy, and don’t share it with the folks who aren’t legal, all right?”

“You got it.” The lying bastard.

“How long have you been out here?” Hilary asked the Pats.

“Going on sixty years,” Woman Pat said.

“You’ve been married for sixty years?”

“Hell no,” the old woman said. “I’m not the marrying kind. This old fool asks me every year.”

“But she always says no,” Man Pat said. “In fact, she says hell no, just like you just heard. She seems to enjoy saying no to me. I actually don’t really have any desire to get married myself, but I ask anyway to make her feel wanted. You can’t imagine what it’s like to grow so old and unattractive.”

“He just talks like that to get me turned on,” Woman Pat said.

Rachel Charles came to the counter to pay for a couple of yogurts and some apples and peaches. She looked at me and then at Hilary. To Hilary she said, “I don’t know how you can ride in that Jeep without air-conditioning.”

“It’s not so bad,” Hilary said, then shook her head. “Actually, it’s hot as hell. It really is uncomfortable.”