Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Abilene looked down at the trip meter and sighed when she saw there were only fifty or so miles left to go. She was sure she could drive another thousand. Since getting her license a month or so back that was all she wanted to do, just drive and drive and drive. When her parents announced that not only would the family be moving across country, but that they would have to do all the moving themselves, she saw it as a blessing – compounded by the fact that her brother Jim was fine just spending the miles drifting in and out of consciousness, leaving her to do all the driving of the family 3-door.

He had actually conked out right in the middle of a conversation they were having. Sometimes she wondered if he was narcoleptic. He could just drop into sleep anywhere, anytime. Of course, she had never seen him do it when he wasn’t around her. Maybe, Abilene thought, she was just really boring.

From the corner of her eye she saw Jim tilting back and forth, rolling his head, obviously coming to. After a look back and forth to reorient himself he half-tapped-half-pushed Abilene on the shoulder.

“What are *you* going to do when we get there? Decided yet?”

Abilene shook her head. “Sometimes the whole home school early graduation thing is really annoying. It’s like, I have no idea what to do. I definitely do not want to hang around the house all day with Mom.”

Jim nodded and breathed in deep. “Ooohhh yeah, you do not want that. Maybe you can work at Wal-Mart.”

Abilene refused to dignify that with a response.

“Well, there has to be something you can do.”

“Uh, you sure about that? We haven’t even passed a McDonald’s in, like, a hundred miles. It’s looking like the only job I’ll be able to get is at a gas station or bait shop.”

“Or strip club.”

Abilene punched Jim very hard in the shoulder. Jim kept laughing, even though she got him with her ring.

“Come on, we will be living in an actual town, you know. Not a hole carved in a hill. Dad said there are, like, five thousand people there. One of them has to be willing to hire you. Play your cards right I might be able to hook you up with a job at this plant.”

Abilene rolled her eyes. “Uh, no thanks. Unlike some, I won’t take a job until I know exactly what it is I’ll be doing.”

Jim yawned and slunk down in his seat. “Well, you’ll figure it out.”

Before her, all Abilene saw was grass. “Maybe.”