Another voice came over the CB to complain about a red Ferrari that was
weaving through traffic at 120 miles per hour. “Bastard damned near hit a
little blue Chevy,” the deep voice bellowed through the static. “Shit, there’s
kids in that Chevy. Anybody up ahead wanna cool this hothead down?” The
voice gave its location.
Shawn checked the mile marker. We were ahead. “I’m a white Pete pulling
a fridge,” he said. There was silence while everybody checked their mirrors
for a Peterbilt with a reefer. Then a third voice, gruffer than the first,
answered: “I’m the blue KW hauling a dry box.”
“I see you,” Shawn said, and for my benefit pointed to a navy-colored
Kenworth a few cars ahead.
When the Ferrari appeared, multiplied in our many mirrors, Shawn shifted
into high gear, revving the engine and pulling beside the Kenworth so that the
two fifty-foot trailers were running side by side, blocking both lanes. The
Ferrari honked, weaved back and forth, braked, honked again.
“How long should we keep him back there?” the husky voice said, with a
deep laugh.
“Until he calms down,” Shawn answered.
Five miles later, they let him pass.
The trip lasted about a week, then we told Tony to find us a load to Idaho.
“Well, Siddle Lister,” Shawn said when we pulled into the junkyard, “back
three work.”
The Worm Creek Opera House announced a new play: Carousel. Shawn
drove me to the audition, then surprised me by auditioning himself. Charles
was also there, talking to a girl named Sadie, who was seventeen. She nodded
at what Charles was saying, but her eyes were fixed on Shawn.
At the first rehearsal she came and sat next to him, laying her hand on his
arm, laughing and tossing her hair. She was very pretty, with soft, full lips
and large dark eyes, but when I asked Shawn if he liked her, he said he
didn’t.
“She’s got fish eyes,” he said.
“Fish eyes?”
“Yup, fish eyes. They’re dead stupid, fish. They’re beautiful, but their
heads’re as empty as a tire.”
Sadie started dropping by the junkyard around quitting time, usually with a
milkshake for Shawn, or cookies or cake. Shawn hardly even spoke to her,