The Next Chapter

The Next Chapter

The stars were out.

He couldn't see them, but knew they were there. Hidden by clouds and dimmed by the blaring neon of the gas station.

The cool of the night embraced the highway, softening the scent of asphalt and overpriced gasoline. A breeze lifted and fell, carrying whiffs of seasalt from across the hills and the occasional touch of cell service. Enough to call in a favour. Sheila, his bright red Miata, had failed him when he needed her the most. So it goes.

In exchange for three dollars fifty, he got a BLT and a Dr Pepper shoved at him. The middle aged cashier could barely keep her eyes open. Never said a word. He wished her a good night anyway.

Through the automated door, round the corner, he sat down on the asphalt, out of the cashier's field of vision. Where he wouldn't have to look at Sheila. The road stretching to his left and right. Dark everywhere else.

The sandwich smelled like freshly baked bread. Which couldn't be true, he saw it microwaved. It had pickles in it for some reason. Shuddering at the touch, he threw them as far away as possible. Opened the can of Dr Pepper, the pop and hiss bringing a smile to his lips. Then he partook.

When he finished and wiped his hands, he noticed that the pickles were absent from where they had landed. After scanning the darkness and finding neither pickle nor stranger there, he stood up and began pacing. Sweat still beaded on his brow as he sat back down, deciding there was nothing to be done about it.

He pulled a book from his inside coat pocket. An old beat up paperback. Its yellow pages smelled of home, the tattered pages familiar under his fingers. An almost unnecessary artifact. The words lived in his heart. He could call them to mind like a favourite song or the memory of a first kiss. But to hold it meant all the difference.

So he dived in. Away from the dark.

„Hey, you need a ride?”

He looked up, gasped, hopped back a bit.

She might have been conjured out of nothingness and starlight, in her boots and jeans and flannel button up. Leaning side to side and trying to look behind her, he found no trace of her origin.

„Are you ok? Whatcha lookin at?"

„Shit, lady, where did you come from!?!” He jumped another time from the way his voice rang in the broken silence.

„The gas station... Where else would I come from? Not like anything else is out there, ya know.” She chuckled.

„I didn't see you when I was inside”, he said, finally managing not to bounce.

„Means you weren't looking properly”, she tapped the side of her head. „I could be asking you the same thing, except I have a noggin and can put two and two together. The red beauty with the busted tires is yours. Ergo, you need a ride.”

„No, thanks.” He looked away from her and back at the book.

„You sure?” She paused. In the silence, he could imagine her looking around, up, staring at him, then giving up. The mental image made him lose track of where he was on the page. He'd have to reread it from the top.

„My mother taught me not to accept rides from strangers”, he told her. „Besides, I have someone coming for me.”

„If they're riding from the same direction as you, next town over is three hours. I can give you a lift down south, it's just thirty minutes, you could find a motel. Not mope around here all night. And if you give me your name, we'll stop being strangers. Mine's Odessa.”

He heard the shake of flannel and felt the disturbance of the air that grazed his cheek. Funny, even though he had lost the plot, so to speak, no longer able to focus on written words, he knew that the heroic knight shook hands with his mortal enemy in disguise on this page. Retreating from a lost battle on his wounded horse, abandoned by his men on the battlefield

.Like in the story, he looked up and shook her hand. „Jude.”

„Well, hey Jude”, she smiled. „So? What'll it be?”

„Thanks, but I'd rather stay here, I think.”

Her smile grew wan, but it did not abandon her. „You really sure?”

„As sure as I can be.” Jude returned the kindness of her smile. His probably didn't look as genuine. „I have a feeling I'm supposed to be here. And I can finish my book while I wait.” He wiggled it at her.

„Just so you know, this place is something of a shithole, if you haven't noticed. The lights go out a few times a night, which would put a damper on your reading. We get the occasional coyote or bear. Some asshole dropped their pickles, I had to pick em up, because as soon as they get a whiff of anything, they come sniffing. Probably some out there right now.” Finally, she looked away from him and into the wilderness.

„I figured that's where you came from.” A nervous giggle escaped his lips.

„You're not technically wrong. So, what's the book about?” she asked.

„Oh.” How to convey such multitudes. „It's my favourite. It's about a soldier's quest to return home.”

She waited. Jude took that as encouragement. „It's not our world, but one a lot like it. The battle is in the middle of nowhere, nobody even knows why they're fighting. After it's over, he's stranded. It's told through the perspectives of the people who meet him.”

„That sounds mighty interesting. Why's it your favourite?"

„The people who meet him all get a different impression of him. None of them are really right, but none of them all are wrong, either. Taken together, they paint a full picture. I just... like knowing there's more to me or you than what we see.”

„Any of these people, they do the man harm?”

A chill passed through him at the question. He remembered where he was. A wolf howled in the distance. She hadn't mentioned wolves.

„Quite a few. More of those than the other kind, really.”

Jude's eyes were fixed on her now. Nodding, still smiling. He felt out of place, but felt like she belonged here.

„I get the feeling you've read the book a few times.”

„More than a few”, he admitted. „Every time I read it again, I get to know everybody in it a bit better.”

„They're not real people. Not to mention, you should know them well enough by now. Why don't you want to take a chance on a ride with me, get to know me a little?” Her gaze locked with his.

The wolves howled again.

The lights went out.

Still, Jude neither turned nor moved. He spoke to the darkness. „Because I don't know what happens if I take that ride. And besides, I know how the story I'm reading goes. I'd rather go there.”

The darkness answered in the woman's voice, close to his face: „What about your story?”

„It can wait.”

The lights came back on.

The woman was gone.

The pickles were back?

The cashier lady actually came out to check on him, asked if he was ok. If he needed anything. Went right back in and left him to it.

The night passed in a blur of pages. The sun found him with only a few chapters to go. His buddy, Eleanor, found him around noon, the day's first arrival. Surrounded by more pickles.

„SorryItooksolongareyouok!?” She actually paused to breathe. „I heard what happened.”

Jude sighed and looked up from his book, his smile sour. „Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it in a bit. Let me finish this. The next chapter is the best part.”