I was suddenly brought to the night again when the match burned out and burned my fingers. I silently cursed myself again as I stuck the two burned fingers into my mouth to stop the stinging pain.

"Want a ride, Buddy?"

The question nearly startled me out of my wits. I hadn't even heard the big semi roll up along side of me. I nearly jumped off the road. I glanced up into a friendly, smiling face. Dancing curls swept across the forehead and outlined his handsome face. Flashing blue eyes greeted me as I climbed into the cab and settled down for the long ride. I hoped he wouldn't talk too much. I hoped the ride would give me a chance to catch up on some sleep I'd be needing for classes the next day.

"Traveling far?" Again his voice had brought me to the present. Visibly I jumped on the seat beside him.

I turned to face the husky truck driver. I had been the runner up in a Mr. Idaho contest and considered myself quite well built, but I realized that I was sitting with a man who could easily have taken the title had he entered the contest. He sat there with his shirt off and his massive chest was as smooth and even as the back of my hand. Wide shoulders contrasted with the small waist and hips. He sat there in the pair of Levis like he had been the man they had in mind when they invented them. His smiling eyes assured me he only wanted to talk to pass the time as we rolled along through the stillness of the night.

"Just to the nearest town or service station," I blurted out. "My car broke down out here in the desert and I have to get some parts for it before I can be on my way back to school." (Why did it bother me so to be so close to him? I had spent a lot of time at gyms and had never felt this way around another man before.)

The conversation moved on in the usual rounds of what was I studying and what would I do after I got out of school. How old was I and how I thought the world series would turn out.

The rolling seams of the highway flashed under the truck. The moan of the wheels on the concrete highway hummed a lullaby and soon I found my head bobbing like a halloween apple. I lay my head back on the seat and relaxed. "This is the way to travel," I thought to myself, "Let someone else do the driving and you just sit back and keep up the conversation, or when there is a lull, drop off to sleep."

I don't know how long I had slept when I felt Chuck's hand on my knee. I only remember starting when I heard his voice.

"Why don't you lean your head over here on my shoulder?" he said, I know how that seat can beat the daylights out of the back of your neck. He squeezed my leg and grinned that fascinating grin.

Normally, I would have been apprehensive about a person like this, but with him, I didn't mind in the least. As a matter of fact, I was glad that he was there to keep me company.

I glanced sidewise at the good looking kid. He was probably one of the ladies' men I had heard so much about. I couldn't blame anyone for paying a lot of attention to him. I could hardly take my eyes off his face.

Languid sleep was the only thing on my mind now, as I lay my head back on the seat and closed my eyes. The hypnotic sounds of the truck were the only thing I heard for sometime.

Suddenly, I opened my eyes and looked around me, wondering where I was, and trying to focus my eyes on the road and on the truck interior. I suddenly

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