17 A Bigger Gun
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Had the weather not changed so much after we passed through Portland—and Jesse and I not moved into the cab of the truck (while Quint stayed outside in the bed with an umbrella, because, in his words, he was an “outdoor dog”), I doubt we would have gotten to know Hodge any better than the last time we’d bumped into him.
As it was, we did a lot more than just get to know him; we fell in love with him a little, I think—or at least came to care for him in a way only those who have experienced a great hardship (like a World War, say, or a g******e, or a Flashback) can: by which I mean quickly and without hesitation; based on a bond rather than pure circumstance. By which I mean without any pretense or conditioning whatever—because there simply wasn’t room for it, wa
