Confusing it for an offer of a makeshift tourniquet, the driver initially waves it off. “Thanks, but’am not bleeding that much.” The words are spat out with scorn, though it’s not clear who it’s intended for.

“Nah, ya thick shit. Th’story. On th’front page.”

Blood rises to the driver’s face in equal parts pain, impatience, and embarrassment at his limited reading capabilities. The familiar words “motorcycle” and “dead” in the headline is enough for the driver to guess that the anachronistic-looking photo is of Nado. Taken altogether, he is able to piece together the information.

“Shit.” The word is slow and drawn out, but also rich with inflection. It could say as much about his ever-increasing pain as the perennial riddle of human mortality. The driver is capable of deep thought when it is presented right before him; but when such pondering concerns a man who rushed him in a gas station store and possibly tried to run him off the road, one can’t expect the driver to be too sympathetic.

The driver limps to the pickup, leaving the paper where it lies on the ground. The hitchhiker hangs back a little. His eyes unwittingly float over to where he last saw the biker’s girlfriend disappear. The hitchhiker can’t see much beyond a dumpster, but he imagines that he and the driver are both being watched and laughed at. The girl will get back to Nado’s mates -who will undoubtedly hear of the news once they wake up, assuming they’ve gone to sleep- and a gang of an unknown number of bikers will soon be searching every highway, side road and parking lot for two men in a rust brown, mud-caked pickup. Where will they be when Nado’s gang receives word? And how far can a girl with multiple fractures and a swollen-shut eye get anway?

The hitchhiker catches the oversized plastic donut in the coffee shop’s window. It’s lit in friendly cursive: “Always time for a donut.” At its center, two baker’s fingers point to a six and somewhere between a three and a four. The hitchhiker jumps into his side of the car as he has so many times before. It’s time for them to go.