Hour Twenty

I’m sitting in the first bedroom with Lacey. Ben drives. Radar’s navigating. I was asleep when they last stopped, but they picked up a map of New York. Agloe isn’t marked, but there are only five or six intersections north of Roscoe. I always thought of New York as being a sprawling and endless metropolis, but here it is just lush rolling hills that the minivan heroically strains its way up. When there’s a lull in the conversation and Ben reaches for the radio knob, I say, “Metaphysical I Spy! ”

Ben starts. “I Spy with my little eye something I really like. ”

“Oh, I know, ” Radar says. “It’s the taste of balls. ”

“No. ”

“Is it the taste of penises? ” I guess.

“No, dumbass, ” Ben says.

“Hmm, ” says Radar. “Is it the smell of balls? ”

“The texture of balls? ” I guess.

“Come on, asshats, it has nothing to do with genitalia. Lace? ”

“Um, is it the feeling of knowing you just saved three lives? ”

“No. And I think you guys are out of guesses. ”

“Okay, what is it? ”

“Lacey, ” he says, and I can see him looking at her through the rearview.

“Dumbass, ” I say, “it’s supposed to be meta physical I Spy. It has to be things that can’t be seen. ”

“And it is, ” he says. “That’s what I really like — Lacey but not the visible Lacey. ”

“Oh, hurl, ” Radar says, but Lacey unbuckles her seat belt and leans forward over the kitchen to whisper something in his ear. Ben blushes in response.

“Okay, I promise not to be a cheese ball, ” Radar says. “I Spy with my little eye something we’re all feeling. ”

I guess, “Extraordinary fatigue? ”

“No, although excellent guess. ”

Lacey says, “Is it that weird feeling you get from so much caffeine that, like, your heart isn’t beating so much as your whole body is beating? ”

“No. Ben? ”

“Um, are we feeling the need to pee, or is that just me? ”

“That is, as usual, just you. More guesses? ” We are silent. “The correct answer is that we are all feeling like we will be happier after an a cappella rendition of ‘Blister in the Sun. ’”

And so it is. Tone deaf as I may be, I sing as loud as anybody. And when we finish, I say, “I Spy with my little eye a great story. ”

No one says anything for a while. There’s just the sound of the Dreidel devouring the blacktop as she speeds downhill. And then after a while Ben says, “It’s this, isn’t it? ”

I nod.

“Yeah, ” Radar says. “As long as we don’t die, this is gonna be one hell of a story. ”

It will help if we can find her, I think, but I don’t say anything. Ben turns on the radio finally and finds a rock station with ballads we can sing along to.

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