In the Best Families

The truth was, I was glad to oblige. Logic had stepped in. If that was intended for my last ride I wouldn't ever be travelling that road again, and in that case what difference did it make if I saw where we turned off and which direction we went? There must have been some chance that I would ride another day, and without a chaperon, or this stunt was pointless. So as I got myself into position, wriggling and adjusting to keep my face downward without an elbow or knee taking my weight, the worst I felt was undignified. I heard the driver say something, in a soft quiet voice, and Christy answering him, but I didn't catch the words.

There was no law against looking at my watch. I had been playing hide and seek, with me it, a little more than sixteen minutes, with the car going now slower and now faster, now straight and now turning left and now right, when finally it slowed down to a full stop. I heard a strange voice and then Christy's, and the sound of a heavy door closing. I shifted my weight.

“Hold it, Christy snapped at me. He was still right above me. “We're a little early.

“I'm tired of breathing dust, I complained.

“It's better than not breathing at all, the strange voice said and laughed, not attractively.

“He's got a gun, Christy stated. “Left armpit.

“Why not? He's a licensed eye. We'll take care of it.

I looked at my watch, but it was too dark to see the hands, so of course we were in out of the sun. The driver had got out, shut the car door, and walked away, if I was any good at reading sounds. I heard voices indistinctly, not near me, and didn't get the words. My left leg from the knee down, got bored and decided to go to sleep. I moved it.

“Hold it, Christy commanded.

“Nuts. Tape my eyes and let me get up and stretch.

“I said hold it.

I held it, for what I would put at another seven minutes. Then there were noises-a door opening, not loud, footsteps and voices, a door closing, again not loud, still steps and voices, a car's doors opening and shutting, an engine starting, a car moving, and in a minute the closing of the heavy door that had closed after we had stopped. Then the door which my head was touching opened.

“All right, a voice said. “Come on out.