Page 2

The next stop would be only the fourth pick up of the morning and yet he already felt dead tired. He reached for the coffee and felt the cup's comforting warmth in his hand. It had almost reached his lips when a jackrabbit (using that small animal logic that led millions of its predecessors to their untimely end) jumped out of the darkness into the dusty road ahead.

It stood up on its hind legs and stared in mild curiosity when it was spotlighted by the truck's headlights.

In mid sip, Josey noticed the movement and turned the steering wheel sharply in an attempt not to hit the small animal. As the massive truck swerved it jerked and shuddered causing almost half of the coffee to spill onto his lap.

Josey screamed, "Sonofabitch!" as the coffee scalded a tender area that no reasonable man would ever want burnt.

The jackrabbit noted the bright lights and heard the squeal of the giant tires as the big thing racing toward it began to turn. Its whiskers twitched as its brown eyes widened a bit more, but otherwise it remained motionless. The long eared animal's only brief confused thought was, Should I stay or leap? It didn't use reason or logic to decide. Instead, it chose to follow a natural instinct.

Josey sucked through his clenched teeth as hot coffee soaked into his underwear like a sponge. The truck seemed destined to miss the long eared innocent pedestrian and he sighed in relief. But in mid sigh the jackrabbit chose an extremely unfortunate moment to take instinct's advice and leaped.

The sheer size and weight of the truck made the bump almost imperceptible a moment later, but Josey knew he'd hit it. A wave of nausea and memories overcame him even as he hit the brakes and pulled over to the side of the deserted road.

He was twelve years old, standing at the bus stop waiting to go to school with his best friend. Tim had been followed by his new puppy named Black Jack. They'd been speculating about whether Sheila Cleveland was stuffing her bra or not when the bus started down the hill toward their pick up point. The puppy was yipping excitedly and bounding about with seemingly endless enthusiasm.

The school bus was slowing to stop at the corner when Tim screamed, "No! No, Black Jack, stop!"

But it was much too late.

The puppy ran out in front of the bus and the yellow painted juggernaut on wheels ran it over.

Had it killed the poor animal outright Josey would no doubt have less disturbed memories about the accident, but it didn't. The weight and size of the mammoth tire crushed the puppy flat across its midsection.

Black Jack howled in confused terror as blood and excrement was squished and squirted out onto the pavement. The dog's midsection was flattened and deep tire tread marks were clearly visible in spite of the torn bloody fur.

It hadn't even been his dog and yet Josey couldn't help throwing up as his friend Tim ran home screaming.

The driver had obviously not been hired for her love of animals.

She only shrugged while opening bus door and said, "Shit happens. Let's get going."

The feeling never changed with age. A fluttering swirly sickness filled his stomach and his throat felt like it was constricting to a point where it was nearly impossible to breathe.

Josey was not the most tenderhearted man, but knew he had to go back to see that the jackrabbit was dead and not just laying in the road suffering. He reached for his crowbar and climbed out of the truck cab. The heavy four foot long rusty rod of metal was slightly moist from the condensation in the early morning air.

He walked back gripping it tightly in both hands. His throat constricted tighter with every step.

The smell of the giant septic tank attached to the back of the truck wasn't as bad as it would be in a few hours, once the New Mexico sun began cooking the contents. The truck held a large silvery colored metal storage tank painted on both sides with a large cartoon skunk sniffing a bouquet of roses.

[ Continue to page 3 ]