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"You really want to know?"

"No," Crystal answered for her_

"I didn't think you did, Pollyanna."

"I want to know," Raven said. "We should hear this and learn," she added.

"Why? Do you plan on asking for rides at truck stops?" Crystal shot back at her.

"You never know," Raven said.

"That's the way to think," Sunshine said, grinning at Raven.

"There wasn't anything I could do but let him have his way, or start to," she said. "You get to know when men are at their . . . let's say weakest moment. I waited for my chance, kneed him where it hurts right down to his birthday and got away. I lost some of my stuff. That's why I only have that bag, but I wasn't about to go back and ask him for my things," she said.

No one spoke for a moment, all of us lost in our own imaginings, each of us seeing the terrifying moments from our own prospective.

"Why do you do this?" Crystal finally asked. "Do what?"

"Hitchhike everywhere, pick up rides from strangers, go off with strange men, live like this?" she elaborated, raising her voice a few octaves.

"I'm not exactly enrolled in some private school back east," Sunshine replied. "I'm on my own."

"So just get a job, learn something, get a life like everyone else," Crystal continued. "A lot of people are on their own but don't end up nearly raped and murdered in some truck cab."

Sunshine stared at her and then blew some air through her lips.

"Everyone in this country thinks she knows what's good for everyone else. When you're on your own for a while, come see me. I'll make some time in my busy schedule," she added.

"We've been on our own all our lives," Crystal said, "mostly."

"Is that right?" Sunshine looked at her and then at the rest of us. The skepticism was replaced with new interest. "What do you mean? Who are you?"

"We're real orphans," Crystal said. "We come from a foster home. Ever hear of them?"

"You're kidding? Really?" she said, smiling as if our stock went up tenfold in her eyes.

"How come you never ended up in one?" Raven asked. - -

"I almost did once. I was picked up for vagrancy in some small town in Oklahoma and the police were going to turn me over to the state, but I managed to fake my way out. I had this friend in Phoenix who pretended to be my aunt and wired the money for my bus ticket. The police bought it. I actually left on a bus and got off the first stop. They weren't really interested in me. They just wanted to get me out of their hair. As I said, Pollyanna, you've got to learn how to live on the road."

"Stop calling me Pollyanna," Crystal snapped.

"Sensitive, isn't she? First rule on the road is not to be sensitive. You've got to get a shell like those turtles you see crawling along. I turned one upside down once just outside of El Paso."

"Wow, you really have been everywhere," Raven said with awe. She'd never been west of New York State.

"Not New York," she said. "I've stayed away from New York City. You can get eaten alive there."

"We were just there," Butterfly bragged. "It's beautiful."

"Really? How long were you there?"

"Only for a few minutes," I explained. "I made a wrong turn and ended up on Broadway."

"A lot of people

are trying to end up on Broadway," Sunshine said with a laugh. She nudged Raven and Raven laughed with her. "I like you guys. You have any money?"