Oct 19, 2008

Highway Mileage


She came on out of the Diner and tossed a bunch of junk in the back seat of my car. I just looked at it. It was a long day and I was tired from too much cheap, greasy food and hard stuff.
We patched out into the night.
"Now this is America," she said.
I reached over and turned up the radio while she reached into the back seat and started pulling out little thrift store dresses that she wanted to try on.
She shimmied out of her jeans and started putting one dress on right after another.
She was smooth and easy while the changes were made and I could smell the sweat on her skin even with the windows down.
She made me pull over and she got out to strut in front of the headlights; a little fashion show right there in the highway.
Short skirts; go-go boots; sundresses. It was a-okay.
She bent all the way over without using her hands and brought her lips to the center line.
She popped back up and looked at me.
"Kiss the road," she said.
She slid back into the seat next to me and we were gone again like a shade in the deep scar through the night that the headlights carved out for us.
She leaned way back against the window and smiled at me all crooked. Then she put her head in my lap.
I just turned up the radio and rolled the windows down all the way.
We tore off into the wild lightning midnight and, through the wind from the open windows, I swear I could hear Jesus screaming my name.

11 comments:

Jennifer said...

Sounds like my kind of night...

LC said...

I don't know, C.s., you seem too edgy to let a girl put her head on your lap while you drove, but what do I know?

I think this should be the prelude to your next great novel.

Get going.

C.S. Perry said...

Well...edgy I may be but it might be nice to have a girl's head in my lap again at some point in the future.
I wonder where the girl from this story's gone.
Any ideas, L.C.?
And, as for novels...well, the last one took a lot out of me and just look at the response it got.
Maybe I'll just do a collection of blogs and publish that.

zipbagofbones said...

Laps were made for head-resting, and highways for strutting. At their best, both involve driving.

L. said...

This sounds fun. Almost like it is being read by Angus Young. Um, if Angus Young had a PhD in American Lit.

a girl said...

wait. these are all imaginary?

C.S. Perry said...

This is my life...as it happens.
I just write it down in my spare time.

LC said...

In his defense, Some of it is real. For example, I'm the girl with the red stripe.

Mmmm... Red Stripe.

All This Trouble... said...

And I am the wild lightning midnight...

Jennybean said...

great story... roadside fashion show sounds like fun!

PurestGreen said...

"gone like a shade in the deep scar." I become so desperately jealous when you do things like that.