Moss set the case in the booth and eased himself in after it. He lifted the menu from the wire rack where it stood along with the mustard and ketchup. She scooted into the booth opposite. He didnt look up. What are you havin, he said.
I dont know. I aint looked at the menu.
He spun the menu around and slid it in front of her and turned and looked for the waitress.
What are you? the girl said.
What am I havin?
No. What are you. Are you a character?
He studied her. The only people I know that know what a character is, he said, is other characters.
I might just be a fellow traveler.
Fellow traveler.
Yeah.
Well you are now.
You're hurt, aint you?
What makes you say that?
You cant hardly walk.
Maybe it's just a old war injury.
I dont think so. What happened to you?
You mean lately?
Yeah. Lately.
You dont need to know.
Why not?
I dont want you gettin all excited on me.
What makes you think I'd get excited?
Cause bad girls like bad boys. What are you goin to have?
I dont know. What is it you do?
Three weeks ago I was a law abidin citizen. Workin a nine to five job. Eight to four, anyways. Things happen to you they happen. They dont ask first. They dont require your permission.
That's the truth if I ever heard it told, she said.
You hang around me you'll hear some more of it.
You think I'm a bad girl?
I think you'd like to be.
What's in that briefcase?
Briefs.
What's in it.
I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.
You aint supposed to carry a gun in a public place. Did you not know that? In particular a gun such as that.
Let me ask you somethin.
Go ahead.
When the shootin starts would you rather be armed or be legal?
I dont want to be around no shootin.
Yes you do. It's wrote all over you. You just dont want to get shot. What are you havin?
What are you?
Cheeseburger and a chocolate milk.
The waitress came and they ordered. She got the hot beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy. You aint even asked me where I was goin, she said.
I know where you're goin.
Where am I goin then.
Down the road.
That aint no answer.
It's more than just a answer.
You dont know everthing.
No I dont.
You ever kill anybody?
Yeah, he said. You?
She looked embarrassed. You know I aint never killed nobody.
I dont know that.
Well I aint.
You aint, then.
You aint done, either. Are you?
Done what.
What I just said.
Killin people?
She looked around to see if they might be overheard.
Yes, she said.
Be hard to say.
After a while the waitress brought their plates. He bit the corner off a packet of mayonnaise and squeezed out the contents over his cheeseburger and reached for the ketchup. Where you from? he said.
She took a drink of her iced tea and wiped her mouth with the paper napkin. Port Arthur, she said.
He nodded. He took up the cheeseburger in both hands and bit into it and sat back, chewing. I aint never been to Port Arthur.
I aint never seen you there.
How could you of seen me there if I aint never been there?
I couldnt. I was just sayin I aint. I was agreein with you.
Moss shook his head.
They ate. He watched her.
I reckon you're on your way to California.
How did you know that?
That's the direction you're headed in.
Well that's where I'm goin.
You got any money?
What's it to you?
It aint nothin to me. Do you?
I got some.
He finished the cheeseburger and wiped his hands on the paper napkin and drank the rest of the milk. Then he reached in his pocket and took out the roll of hundreds and unfolded them. He counted out a thousand dollars onto the formica and pushed it toward her and put the roll back in his pocket. Let's go, he said.
What's that for?
To go to California on.
What do I gotta do for it?
You dont have to do nothin. Even a blind sow finds a acorn ever once in a while. Put that up and let's go.
They paid and walked out to the truck. You wasnt callin me a sow back yonder was you?
Moss ignored her. Give me the keys, he said.
She took the keys from her pocket and handed them over. I thought maybe you'd forgot I had em, she said.
I dont forget much.
I could of just slipped off like I was goin to the ladies room and took your truck and left you settin there.
No you couldnt of.
Why not?
Get in the truck.
They got in and he set the case between them and pulled the Tec-9 out of his belt and slid it under the seat.
Why not? she said.
Dont be ignorant all your life. In the first place I could see all the way to the front door and out the parkin lot clear to the truck. In the second place even if I was dumb-ass enough to set with my back to the door I'd of just called a cab and run you down and pulled you over and beat the shit out of you and left you layin there.
She got real quiet. He put the key in the ignition and started the truck and backed it out.
Would you of done that?
What do you think?
When they pulled into Van Horn it was seven oclock at night. She'd slept a good part of the way, curled up with her knapsack for a pillow. He pulled into a truckstop and shut off the engine and her eyes snapped open like a deer's. She sat up and looked at him and then looked out at the parking lot. Where are we? she said.
Van Horn. You hungry?
I could eat a bite.
You want some diesel fried chicken?
What?
He pointed to the sign overhead.
I aint eatin nothin like that, she said.
She was in the ladies room a long time. When she came out she wanted to know if he'd ordered.
I did. I ordered some of that chicken for you.
You aint done it, she said.
They ordered steaks. Do you live like this all the time? she said.
Sure. When you're a big time desperado the sky's the limit.
What's that on that chain?
This?
Yeah.
It's a tush off of a wild boar.
What do you wear that for?
It aint mine. I'm just keepin it for somebody.
A lady somebody?
No, a dead somebody.
The steaks came. He watched her eat. Does they anybody know where you're at? he said.
What?
I said does anybody know where you're at.
Like who?
Like anybody.
You.
I dont know where you're at because I dont know who you are.
Well that makes two of us.
You dont know who you are?
No, silly. I dont know who you are.
Well, we'll just keep it that way and they wont neither of us be out nothin. All right?
All right. What'd you ask me that for?
Moss mopped up steak gravy with a half a roll. I just thought it was probably true. For you it's a luxury. For me it's a necessity.
Why? Because they's somebody after you?
Maybe.
I do like it that way, she said. You got that part right.
It dont take long to get a taste for it, does it?
No, she said. It dont.
Well, it aint as simple as it sounds. You'll see.
Why is that.
There's always somebody knows where you're at. Knows where and why. For the most part.
Are you talkin about God?
No. I'm talkin about you.
She ate. Well, she said. You'd be in a fix if you didnt know where you was at.