Angel get down to the boat ramp, ain’t a soul there. Windy out there, water dark, scare her to death just to see it. What would it be to be out in them waves, them black waves closing over your head, ain’t nobody around to hear you screaming. Coat be waterlogged and pulling you down. Hurt just a little and that’s all. Just a brief pain. Be dead then, won’t know nothing. Won’t have no hurts. Easy way out. They get over it eventually. Could make it look like an accident. Drive her car right off in the water, everybody think it a mistake. Just a tragedy, that’s all, a unfortunate thing. Don’t want to hurt nobody. What so wrong with her life she do the things she do? Killing her baby and her man little at a time. And her ownself. But have to have it. Thinking things when she drinking she wouldn’t think at all when she not drinking. But now she drinking all the time, and she thinking same way all the time.

She drink some more beer and schnapps, and then she pass out or go to sleep, she don’t know which. Same thing. Sleeping she don’t have to think no more. Ain’t no hurting when she sleeping. Sleeping good, but can’t sleep forever. Somebody done woke her up, knocking on the glass. Some boy out there. High school boy. Truck parked beside, some more kids in it. She scared at first, think something bad. But they look all right. Don’t look mean or nothing. Just look worried. She get up and roll her window down just a little, just crack it.

“Ma’am?” this boy say. “You all right, ma’am?”

“Yes,” she say. “Fine, thank you.”

“Seen you settin here,” he say. “Thought your car tore up maybe.”

“No,” Angel say. “Just sleepy,” she say. “Leavin now,” she say, and she roll the window up. She turn the lights on, car still running, ain’t even shut it off. Out in the middle of nowhere asleep, ain’t locked the door. Somebody walk up and slit her throat, she not even know it. She crazy. She got to get home. She done been asleep no telling how long.

She afraid they gonna follow her out. They do. She can’t stand for nobody to get behind her like that. Make her nervous. She decide she gonna speed up and leave them behind. She get up to about sixty-five. She start to pull away. She sobered up a little while she asleep. Be okay to get another one of them beers out the sack now. Beer sack down in the floor. Have to lean over and take her eyes off the road just a second to get that beer, no problem.