He had to shut her up or there would be steaming viscera all over his immaculate cab. The lion was roaring under the skin, rage and hunger. They were crossing the state line into North Carolina any second now. If she saw the sign and mentioned it, it would be the last state she ever saw. Third time’s a charm, right? She can’t roll sevens for ever. His insistence on ignoring her had for the moment left her sputtered out, looking at her nails with a little flashlight she had produced on a key ring clogged up with doodads, basically anything you could slip on to one except an actual key. Wouldn’t it just be his luck that the first time she shuts her trap and gets distracted is when North Carolina is begging to welcome her to the Tar Heel state. Sure enough, they crested a tiny hill and there
