Hugh started to do a quick pre-trip, but then had an idea.
“Hey, Jenny, can you do me a favor?” he asked her.
Jenny nodded, curiosity showing in her expression as to what she could do for him.
“I like to start my day with a clean windshield and mirrors. Would you mind giving them a wipe for me?”
Jenny nodded again, and Hugh showed her where he kept his spray bottle of window cleaner and rags. She then set herself to the task of doing a thorough job of cleaning all his glass. She looked like she was enjoying it.
Hugh discovered that watching her do that job was a pleasant experience for him—on a couple of levels. He appreciated seeing her engage herself in something other than her own troubles, and he knew that it would be good for her to have something to do.
But, he also had to admit that he enjoyed watching this young lady as she stretched her lean, fit, shapely body to reach all of the windshield area and mirrors.
With all their chores completed, and both of them situated in their seats, Hugh punched in his Qualcomm macros, entered their destination into his GPS, and cranked up the diesel engine once again.
They were finally on the highway headed west out of town when he heard, “Hugh?”
He looked over at his rider, thinking that was the first word she had uttered all morning. She was looking right at him.
“Yes.”
“Thanks,” was all she said.
“Thanks?” he replied.
“Yes. Thanks for being such a decent guy,” she said. “And thanks for giving me a job to do.”
“Oh, sure. No problem,” he said, unsure of where she was going with this.
“No, really. It’s the first time since getting to ride with you that I felt like I was not just a leach … or worse,” she explained.
Hugh looked at her, then nodded.
“Besides, I hope you got a good look,” she teased.
Hugh deeply reddened, and was extremely embarrassed that she had caught him looking at her while she was doing the cleaning job.
“Well, I, uh … didn’t think you noticed,” he stammered.
“Don’t worry about it. A girl always knows … and appreciates,” she said, smiling at him.
This definitely removed a lot of the tension that had built up over the night and morning. It was good to see her smiling, and even flirting a bit.
“So, where are we headed today?” she asked.
“All they’ve got on the board for me today is dropping this load this evening in Reno, actually just outside Reno, and then it could be anywhere from there,” he replied. “It should be about a nine-hour drive, with a couple of stops and such. Straight across on 80. Nothing much exciting about it.”
Leastwise, I hope so, he thought.
“We won’t have a pickup until the next morning, so we’ll park for the night at a little truck stop I know of that’s near our delivery location.”
“OK,” she said.
The miles rolled under them. The atmosphere in the cab was a quiet one, but comfortable—much more comfortable than Hugh would have thought, given their tense evening and morning.
Jenny, again, was the first to break the long period of silence. “Hugh?”
“Yes, dear?” Hugh responded in a playful parody of a husband and wife having a conversation. He had the sudden thought, however, that she might not have thought of it as a joke.
“That’s a good one,” Jenny said, laughing.
Hugh was relieved by her response, and waited for her to go on.
“I was just wondering if you had any more truck driving stories to tell,” she said.
“I’ve got tons of them. You sure you want to hear another one?” Hugh asked her.
“Yeah. How about how you learned to drive one of these things?”
“That’s something I’ll never forget,” he said.
“Tell it, please.”
“Basically,” Hugh said. “I got thrown into the deep end of the pool. And it was either sink or swim.”
“Huh?”
“It’s when I first got the ride with James,” Hugh started. “It was my second day on his truck, the morning after our big fi … well … it was the second day.”
“When was that?” Jenny asked.
“About fifteen years ago,” Hugh said.
Chapter Nine
Fifteen Years Ago - Second Day with James
It was a beautiful morning to be on the road heading north on Interstate 5, the major freeway that runs up the West Coast linking Mexico with Canada. This west side highway bypasses all the major cities and towns in the southern portion of the Central Valley of California.
From Wheeler Ridge almost to Stockton, it’s just two hundred fifty miles of farming and ranch country, punctuated by the occasional travel center and drivers’ services situated on the crossroads where connecting highways feed off to the east to join Highway 99, the major arterial highway that runs right up through the middle of the populous Central Valley.
There were also a number of industrial parks and distribution center complexes along this route, where corporate planners take advantage of lower tax rates and government incentives to locate there.
It was to one of these industrial park areas that James was heading right now. He knew of one that was closed and abandoned. It had acres and acres of pavement with nobody using it right now, and no obstructions. Perfect for what he had in mind.
So, just as Hugh thought that he would be settling down for a good long run to Portland, he noticed James hitting his right turn signal to exit on the next offramp.
“What’s up?” Hugh asked, wondering
