Fifteen Minute Story

Prompt: the thank you that went unspoken

The field was wispy in the summer sun, stretching as far as the eye could see. A small girl in Converse sneakers (too big) and a dirt-streaked dress (right size) sat on the side of the road. The road was from a Gus Van Sant movie, or a Cormac McCarthy novel. The girl was from her own time. She belonged to no one.

The Cadillac pulled up, gathering dust around its tires, dust that streaked its golden sheen. The little girl looked surprised, the driver thought, which made sense, because there were no other cars or little girls for miles. The driver was tired and lost. He didn't get paid enough for this shit. There was nobody to ask but this small, incongruous child. Certainly she wouldn't know which way the nearest town was. The back seat window rolled down. The little girl drew a circle with her sneaker in the dirt. She didn't move from her spot on the asphalt. The driver tensed, unsure who would speak first. He didn't want to leap in. He just wanted to drive away, go home, take his shoes off, and watch Archie Bunker. He didn't have an Edith, but sometimes he imagined he did.

His employer's voice came out of the window like a flock of birds, languid and loose. "Which way's Reno?"

The words came up to the little girl and stopped. She stared them down and shook her head.

His employer sighed loudly enough for him to hear. "You don't know?" The words were sharp now, and too fast.

The little girl nodded. Slowly. "I'm waiting," she said. "I'm not trying to go."

She looked at the driver this time, a blue gaze that seemed to know more than the driver's forty-five years on earth had taught him. He read the unsaid questions, and nodded.

Twenty minutes later, he was driving back the way he came. The little girl lolled in the front seat. His employer was a receding image in the rear view mirror, a cartoon enemy now in his past. The driver didn't know the route, but he knew the drive, and it was a long one, with no need for hurrying. They'd figure it out, everything, when they got there.