Chapter One

Jim Heller fell asleep to corn four times, and woke up to corn three. The vast rows at first amazed him, even imbibed him with a sense of inspiration (for what, however, he wasn’t completely sure.) But eventually, it was only hypnotic. He would stare at the miles and miles of pointy tips going by him, the wall of green and yellow, and feel his eyes become uncontrollably weighed down. Then he’d black out and dream about the jungle, the ocean. When he awoke, embarrassed at the visions of himself bare-chested, riding the backs of tigers and elephants and tigers, he wondered if the corn was telling him there were better places to be.

That fourth time Jim woke up he rejoiced silently at the different sight before him; though no less repetitive, the bouncing, grass-covered hills filled him with the same wonder as when the terrain first sprouted with corn – and also reminded him of the ocean he saw in an earlier dream.

With the fresh view, Jim finally found himself able to sit up in the passenger seat, and stretch out some of the fatigue left in him by the repeated naps. Turning left, he saw that his sister Abilene had apparently had not changed her position at all since he first went under. She was still hunched slightly away from the seat, hands at five and seven, bouncing her head softly to the children’s music playing on the one radio station they could get in.

Jim tried to speak, but had to cough and grunt some before he could get any words out. “Where are we?” he finally managed.

Abilene didn’t turn. “No idea. At the motel Dad said it was only about three hundred miles till we got there. And we’re at two-ten now.”

Jim turned around in his seat, half cracking his back, half looking behind. “Where are they, anyway? Lose ‘em?”

She shook her head. “Nah. Look after we go over this hill, they’re like a quarter mile ahead or something. Mom’s driving now, so they’re actually going normal speed. I think dad’s afraid to go over forty.”

As they reached the round peak Jim looked down and saw the moving van, swerving a little since Janice Heller was still adjusting to handling something bigger than a hatchback. Jim prayed that his stuff stayed okay.

After a few minutes of silence Abilene finally turned her head to her brother. “So are you excited about the job?”

Jim shifted his weight in his seat, put a foot up on the dash, and crossed his arms. “I’m not…*not* excited, you know?”

Abilene nodded, interrupting the beat she continued keeping.

“It’s cool to know I’ll have something to do when we get to this place. But I still have no idea what I’m doing. Just ‘intern.’ Do you even know what this company does?”

“Mom says they’re a ‘valuecentric mass manufacturing concern.’”

Jim grabbed at the armrest on the door. “Now what the fuck does that mean?” He winced at his slip.

Abilene clapped, then grabbed back at the steering wheel. “Ooh, I’m telling!”

“No, Abby, please don’t.” She just grinned. Jim groaned.