Page 59 of The Hitchhikers

Jenny got a soda from the fridge for Tom and helped him take the pills. She brought the leftover soda to Alice and held it out. “You want it?”

What Alice wanted was for this girl to not be acting like Tom’s nurse. She took the soda and drank the cold liquid down.

Simon was staring out the windshield, his eyes narrowed. Alice was surprised he hadn’t told her to drive or start the engine. She glanced in her rearview mirror as Jenny got another bottle of soda from the fridge, then sat down at the table and took her vitamins.

“There’s a hose,” Simon said.

Alice followed Simon’s gaze to the side of the church, where a coiled hose lay on the ground below a red-handled tap.

“We should fill the water tank,” Simon said. “Pull up closer.”

Alice started the RV again, drove parallel to the church wall, leaving a few feet between them, and tried to line the tank up as she parked.

Simon reached over and took the keys out of the ignition. “Let’s go.”

Alice followed him outside. She unscrewed the cap that covered the water tank, while Simon turned on the tap and dragged the hose over.

The splashing sound of water softened as the level grew higher in the tank. When the tank was full, Simon shut the tap off. They were still outside the RV when a brown van turned sharply into the church lot and parked behind the RV, blocking them in.

“Shit,” Simon said under his breath. He slid his hand partway into his front pocket, jerked his head at Alice, and walked toward the rear of the RV. She moved to stand beside him.

The van was playing loud music that abruptly shut off. Alice couldn’t see the driver through the windshield, only the reflection of trees and blue sky.

The door opened and a tall, trim man got out, dressed in corduroy tan pants and a loose tunic-style shirt. His hair was golden blond, cut with straight bangs, and when he smiled, he showed a row of white teeth against tanned skin. He looked like a California beach boy.

The passenger door slid open, and a girl jumped out, another right behind her. They had the same sort of smile as the man, like they were incredibly happy to see two strangers staring at them. Both were similar looking, with long dirty-blond hair parted in the middle, makeup-free faces, and a thin leather braid around their foreheads. Their bare feet peeked out from below their flowered prairie skirts. The shorter girl had tiny bells on her belt that tinkled when she moved.

“Hello, travelers!” the man called out.

“Hey,” Simon said. “We were just about to leave. How about you move the van?”

The taller girl, with a dreamy smile and brown half-lidded eyes, walked toward Simon. Her beaded earrings swayed in time with her hips. Simon stepped back, but she circled him, her hands smoothing over his shoulders. She stopped at his side and looped her arm through his.

“You’re so strong!”

Simon’s face pulled into a scowl. The shorter girl, curvier, with dimpled cheeks, had moved to Simon’s opposite side, her hand wrapping around his bicep.

“Oh, youarestrong. Can you help us?”

The blond man put his hands on his hips. “What do you say, brother? Can you lend a hand with unloading tables for our church sale? In exchange for the water.”

“Water’s free,” Simon said.

“So is help!” The man spread his arms wide and laughed.

Simon untangled himself from the girls. “We need to get going.”

“Time’s a construct, my friend. You can make it bend.” He made a movement with his hands, like playing an accordion, then walked to the rear of the van. His leather sandals slapped with each step. The doors swung open. Alice heard the scrape of metal.

The girls had given up on Simon, but they didn’t seem in a rush to unload anything. The taller one had stopped to braid a section of the curvy one’s hair, head tilted, singing a John Lennon tune. The curvy one joined in, their voices blending sweetly. “You may say I’m a dreamer…”

Simon looked between the girls and the van, his hands in fists, his body tense. Alice watched him. He wouldn’t hurt three people, would he? Surely not out in the open like this.

“We can wait in the RV,” she told him quietly.

A loud crashing sound came from behind the van. Alice flinched. More scraping noises. The man was dragging out a long wooden table with metal legs. He dropped it onto the pavement, then leaned against the van to watch the girls, still singing, hands raised to the sky, hips shimmying. The man lit a marijuana joint and exhaled a cloud of pungent smoke.

The girls danced over to him. They took puffs of the joint and passed it around.