Hide and Seek

crawl. I swallowed diesel fumes behind him for a while and then

pulled out to pass.

But I guess the guy wanted to play.

He wouldn't let me by. He'd move over across the broken yellow line

just far enough so that there was a good chance of piling me into the

hillside if I tried. Then he'd pull back again. Out and back. I

could see him watching me through the rearview mirror.

It was very nasty.

I cursed him and waited for an opening.

It came on the downgrade again. By the time I saw it we were both of

us doing seventy. Already that was hard on the pickup. My wheel would

always wobble at sixty-five. Sol held my breath and told myself to

hell with it, you were only young once, and pressed it to eighty.

The pickup shook like it was trying to fall apart. I remembered the

old bald tires. The downgrade was long and steep and we ran it neck

and neck, he and I. I passed him just as the road turned up again. I

was sweating and my hands were trembling. I can see that bastard

smiling at me as I passed him even to this day- not so much the man,

but the wicked cut of the smile. A tanker is a very big thing on a

narrow highway when it's running a foot and a half away from you at

eighty for over a mile.

So that was the second thing. Being stupid and angry and taking bad

risks. I could just as easily have waited him out. It had been a

nice, sunny day.

Then I stepped in dog shit.

Coming home from work, half a block from Harmon's.

Now, I know that's nothing. Meaningless. Silly. Even though it was a

particularly big pile of dog shit, and fresh. But I'll tell you why I

remember it and why I put it with the other things. It's very simple,

wasn't looking where I was going.

Now, that's nothing either, unless you take into account the fact that

it's completely contrary to my habits. I stare at the ground when I

walk. I always do. I've been criticized for it now and then. My