09-29-2021, 06:47 PM
Near hunkered high atop the roundish bump of the right wheel well, the bed’s raised edge digging into the small of his back. A poor choice of roosts, since once the truck lurched back to life, he found himself worrying about being thrown off at the first pothole. But it was either that or a soaked ass and an uncomfortable intimacy with what was almost definitely (following a puzzled examination) a dead bird, which would have been something to comment on yesterday but right now felt like the least weird thing that had cropped up in … however long it had been.
A glance up from its outstretched wing found Jude giving him the evil eye. Jude who would probably find his falling backward out of a truck the pinnacle of gratification. Well, Near found some gratification in Jude looking like he had just crawled out of a car wreck and thrown up in the grass. So.
“This isn’t all my fault,” he called down the way, just in case a spoken rebuttal of the implications carried in that glare might negate the growing sense that it probably was all his fault and in fact the sight of dazed and bedraggled Jude was less inspiring of gratification than guilt. “And you know what, even if it is, you haven’t exactly been helpful. And now you think you’re just going to, what, take a nap? Better hope you didn’t hit your head.”
A glance up from its outstretched wing found Jude giving him the evil eye. Jude who would probably find his falling backward out of a truck the pinnacle of gratification. Well, Near found some gratification in Jude looking like he had just crawled out of a car wreck and thrown up in the grass. So.
“This isn’t all my fault,” he called down the way, just in case a spoken rebuttal of the implications carried in that glare might negate the growing sense that it probably was all his fault and in fact the sight of dazed and bedraggled Jude was less inspiring of gratification than guilt. “And you know what, even if it is, you haven’t exactly been helpful. And now you think you’re just going to, what, take a nap? Better hope you didn’t hit your head.”