I’ve never driven on the interstate, only the back roads that snake around Little River. My knuckles go white and my palms sweat every time a truck passes, but it seems like the fastest way to get distance. Irene was nice enough to leave me with a little more than half a tank of gas, but by the time I get to the Waterloo exit, I’m three hours in and running low. I don’t know where the next rest stop is, so I exit, pay the toll with coins Irene left perfectly organized in the change compartment, and find a gas station.

I have a hundred and seventy-eight dollars saved up from work. Tip money and the little extra Margo started throwing me on top of my shift. When I pull out the wad of ones and fives to pay for gas, I realize I didn’t say goodbye to Margo. I call from the pay phone outside, sure she’s staying at Gary’s and I’ll get the machine. But then she picks up and says hello, and she knows it’s me even though I don’t say anything back.

“Oh, girlie,” she says, her voice blurred and watery. “What did you do?”

— Chapter 7 —

Ithaca, NY

I decide to spend the night in the parking lot of the Wilson Farms gas station just off the interstate, so I can get going and get gone as soon as I wake up. I park around back, out of sight, but cops keep pulling in. There’s a clear view of the cars when they enter the parking lot, but then they drive toward the front of the building and I can’t see them anymore. Three in an hour and I can’t get to sleep. I know they wouldn’t notice me unless they were looking, and they probably aren’t looking yet. They’re most likely stopping for donuts or coffee or cigarettes, but every time a car door slams I jump three feet out of my skin and can’t settle down until way after they leave.

Cop car number four pulls in and enough is enough. If I’m not going to sleep, I may as well move. It’s safer anyhow.

On the way back toward the interstate, there’s a sign that says ITHACA and that it’s forty-one miles from here. I’m not looking forward to getting back on I-90, and don’t know where I’m going other than away, so Ithaca is as good a destination as any.