(lvii.)

"Wait... how did that just work? What just happened?"
"I think we didn't get caught because of an inept clerk."
"Cool--"
"--which means we'll have to do it your way."
"Oh, boo-hoo. Because the evil Chet is secretly tapping all the payphones in the country! What ever shall we do?!"

They ambled across the parking lot.

"So, remind me how I got tangled up in this?"
"I suggested a road trip after we were both laid off from... Is... that...?"
"Wait? You mean this all goes back to--"
"Ssshh!"

Lorelei grabbed Midge and dragged her behind a nearby SUV.

"Do you see that?"
"What? Do I see wha--"
"That."

She pointed to the tire marks leading across the grass, from the highway, the skidmarks that connected to them, and that terminated, eventually, in their stolen police car.

Surrounding their stolen police car, were five men with windbreakers that said JCIIE, and a man in a grey suit, with an unlit cigarette.

"How do you do that, Lor? Seriously, tell me? How?"
"Umm... I dunno. It's a gift, I guess."
"Okay, so, now what?"

Lor looked at her, incredulously.

"Think about what you just said, Midge."
"What do you--"
"When we ditched my car, we stole the car Frank was trying to sell us. When the police started following us, we ditched it, and stole the ice cream truck. When the ice cream truck blew up, we stole a police car."

There was a pause.

"Let's think about this, Midge. What do you think is going to happen next?"



[chapter lviii.]