In the Path of Falling Objects Read Online Free Page B

redness of the mountains in the distance rising above the brush and occasional tree, the road so straight and wind-worn, the dry breath of the air cooling my skin, blowing the sweat-damp hair under my arm that lay bent across the rim of that open-top convertible while the car ground its way forward upon the gravel of our path.
    I’d been this way before, but never like this. Not with Simon, alone, and knowing we were never going back. It felt like I was seeing the desert for the first time in my life.
    I have to write this down. What this feels like to be out here with Simon, and those two up front that I’m not sure about.
    I stared at her and listened to the road.
    Our bellies were full. We drank warm 7UP and threw the bottles out over the back of the car when we were finished, and Mitch turned on the radio, but I could hardly hear it in the rush of wind through my hair, the crackling AM station playing “All Right Now,” between the spastic bursts of static from the hills and dips in the road.
    And Mitch just said, “Why?”
    I looked at Simon. I thought he was only pretending to be asleep. He leaned against the side of the tin man so comfortably, the way he’d leaned against me the night before in the rain, in that trailer.
    Mitch asked it again.
    And I knew he was talking to me.
    I said, “Why what?”
    “Why are you going to Arizona? Who are you running away from?”
    “We’re not running away from anyone,” I said. “We’re trying to find someone.”
    “Well, you definitely found someone, man.”
    Lilly laughed.
    “Our dad. He’s in Arizona.”
    “This road go to Tucumcari?” Mitch had a slight accent; I thought he probably came from Texas; the plates on the car were from there, anyway.
    “Yes.”
    “Hope we get there before we run out of gas,” Lilly said.
    “Thanks anyway. I mean for the ride,” I said, and she turned back and looked at me, the faintest smile on her mouth.
    And then I said, “Or hope we get there before it starts raining again.”
    “Why’s he in Arizona when you’re practically in Texas?” Lilly asked.
    “It’s a long story.”
    “So’s this road,” she said.
    “Not that long.”
    Lilly turned around, propping her legs up on the bench of the white leather seat beside Mitch, letting her arm swing over the top, dropping her hand so smoothly to come to rest on my knee. For just a moment, I thought, she flashed a bit of anger and it nearly scared me, but I let it go.
    “Look, sweetie,” she said, and I thought, how condescending for her to talk like that when she was probably no more than seventeen herself, “if you don’t want to talk, that’s okay. I was just trying to be nice.”
    Then she rubbed my leg and turned back around, fixing her face forward.
    I was embarrassed. I moved my hand to the place on my knee where hers had been. And I thought,
She’s doing something to you. Don’t let it happen. Don’t be a sucker.
    Mitch didn’t say anything, and Simon’s eyes were still closed, but I knew my brother was awake and had been taking it all in. He did that kind of stuff all the time.
    “My mother went off with someone and never came back. Our dad’s in jail. He’s supposed to get out soon, maybe he already is. I don’t know,” I said. “Our brother’s in the Army. In Vietnam.”
    I watched Simon. He twitched like he’d been stung when I told Mitch about Matthew.
    Mitch whistled.
    “What’s your dad in jail for?”
    “You don’t have to say, Jonah,” Lilly said.
    I didn’t want to tell him anyway. I was mad at myself for telling them as much as I did.
    I felt stupid.
    I lowered myself into the seat, my left knee scraping against the tin statue, and Lilly turned around and looked at me again.
    “So there. That’s our whole story. We’re all alone, and sometimes it’s like we can’t hardly stand each other anymore.”
    I didn’t want to say it. I felt stupid, and hated myself for doing it. I wanted to get out of that car.
    And I saw Simon’s