"James van Pelt - Parallel Highways" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pelt James Van)

Their eyes locked, and hers brimmed with sadness.

Twenty-five yards back, the semi leapt eagerly. It growled in triumph.

Jack checked behind him. He put his hand on the emergency brake. Debbie saw, touched his hand and
nodded.

He grazed the brakes. A horn blared behind him, and metal crunched, snapping Jack's head against his
seat, but the Volvo scooted ahead. Their bumpers cleared, and Jack jerked the wheel to the right, pulling
the emergency at the same time.

The truck was on them before they started to roll.


***


Pain's the dark flip-side of excitement. It doesn't bore. It's always freshly minted. Blood in the
wound glistens, and pain's world opens wide, all-encompassing. Jack squirmed on pain's hook, but
there was no place to go, and he was all alone. Like Vanderdecken tied to the rudder off the
weather-whipped coast of Africa, beating his way into the knives of wind, never arriving, never
making port, and each wave a reminder of the death that had already claimed him. Like Sisyphus
with his shoulder to the rock, unable to see around it, having no idea how long it would grind into
his shoulder, how long his legs would quiver beneath him, begging to collapse.

Pain, as long as it lasts, is unending.


***
"I never believe we will come back," said Debbie.

Jack stroked the wheel. If felt so good to feel anything, even the steering wheel.

"It makes me want to kiss everything around me," said Jack.

Automatically, he moved into the left lane. The sign said Compton Only, and he followed the curve
around with all the other cars. Four lanes joined them on the left. The highway was congested, but
moving well.

"Do you think he survived?" asked Debbie. "Do you think that it made any difference?"

"Maybe," Jack said. "At least for a moment."

They passed under a sign.

Debbie turned and grabbed his arm. "Did you see it, Jack! Did you see it?"

He was already checking his mirror and signaling. "Yeah."

The sign read, Harbor Blvd. Disneyland exit/Left Lane, ┬╜ mile.