Tiny told his wife, “Come on, let’s go riding around.” He bundled her up in a robe and fixed her a big drink in a jelly glass, stirred it with a spoon, and they got in the car and took off. It was a warm summer evening that evening, and people were riding around, and they rode down some roads, and she drank, and Tiny smoked, and they talked. The air smelled good, and once in a while they’d meet somebody they knew, and Tiny would wave. He felt good, having her with him, in this new (to them) car. She told him how much she liked the Tarzan movie. They talked about what a good swimmer Johnny Weissmuller was and about what a good Tarzan yell he had. Tiny felt so good he let out a Tarzan yell himself, but it wasn’t nearly as good as Johnny Weissmuller’s. It didn’t matter. The cotton fields were growing and it had rained earlier and the air smelled clean, wonderful, and Tiny had hopes that things would get better.

They stopped by a small store and bought some ice and some more Cokes. She had secreted the better half of a half pint in her purse so there was no need, really, for them to stop riding and enjoying the scenery. But they happened upon a bad wreck. Law officers were directing traffic in the middle of the road. A bridge railing had been crashed through, and as they crept past they could see a car upturned in a creek, the muffler exposed, all the underparts showing. People were standing in the road, watching. They crept past. Cars were parked everywhere. An ambulance was waiting. People with white coats were standing down on the bank of the creek. There was a stretcher on wheels they were standing beside. Somebody was being pulled out of the car, and he looked dead, an old man, with gray hair, a bloody wound in his chest. A man standing in the road wearing overalls told Tiny they thought he was drunk. The lawmen waved to Tiny to move on through. Tiny and his wife craned their necks to see as they crept past. But other people were waiting behind them, and they didn’t get to see the dead man brought all the way out and placed on the stretcher with a sheet over him for his ride to the morgue.