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laugh, was half-hearted at best and pretty much stripped of sincerity. I was concerned. I checked my watch and worked the time backwards. Percy had been there far too long for somebody who had taken a simple shot to the chops, especially from no more than a 110-pounder. |
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My mind was doing a flip-flop on me. I suppose she could have hurt himthat had to be a possibilitybut I reasoned that was damned unlikely. More than likely, since his truck was still there, he was trying to cope with his wounded ego and construct some kind of face-saving story to tell the boys back at the drugstore. |
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I told Brenda to stay where she was and went over to the truck to check it out. I had a vision of a half-pissed, very nervous little man leaping out of the back of his pickup, tire iron in hand, swinging wildly. I didn't want Brenda to get in the way if I had to beat a hasty retreat. |
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I did a double take when I discovered the truck was empty. |
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While I carefully formulated any number of plausible, rational and completely logical reasons for Percy to have left his truck behind, I wasn't sure I would have bought any of them. In truth, in the glaring light of a sunny, no nonsense day, all of my current hypothetical reasons for the man's absence would have sounded pretty idiotic. On the other hand, it probably didn't matter much. |
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