Alone, Book 3: The Journey by Darrell Maloney Page B

tractor’s door and stepping down.
         It was all clear. There wasn’t a living thing anywhere in sight.
         Dave stepped over to the shoulder of the road. He wasn’t sure why, exactly. Perhaps it just seemed uncivilized to pee in the middle of the highway.
         It was while relieving himself in the dark green grass at the shoulder of the highway that Dave had a thought.
         Directly in front of him, on a small green sign with white lettering, were the words BLANCO, 1 MILE.
         Dave had always been a suspicious sort by nature. Sarah used to say that’s why, in addition to being a hoarder, he was also a conspiracy theorist. She used to make fun of him, call him one of the “black helicopter crowd.”
         Dave had always countered that the government doesn’t do anything unless it has something to gain. That “by the people, for the people” was a myth, and that now it was “by the congressmen, for the congressmen.”
         Sarah said she certainly couldn’t argue that particular point.
         “I’ll grant you all that. As for the FEMA death camps and all that, I don’t buy it. Sometimes bad things happen without the government making it so. And sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence.”
         “Hey, black helicopters are real. So are implants. They were talking about doing it when I was in the Corps. ”
         “Did you ever see it done?”
         “Well, no. But they said that sometime in the future, all soldiers and Marines would receive chips to help doctors take care of them when they couldn’t tell the doctors their blood type, medical conditions, or any of that kind of stuff.”
         “So you never saw it happen?”
         “No.”
         “I rest my case.”
         The couple never resolved the issue, preferring instead to agree to disagree.
         Dave never stopped believing in many of the conspiracy theories that came along.
         And Sarah never stopped saying that sometimes a coincidence is only that: a coincidence.
         Dave wondered what Sarah might think about him stopping for the night and sleeping in a truck that was parked precisely in front of a sign.
         A sign telling him there was a town only one mile ahead.
         A town which surely must have at least one auto parts store.
         At a time when Dave desperately needed a new alternator for his vehicle to continue his journey.
         He muttered out loud, “Ha! Sometimes things just line up way too nicely to be just a coincidence.”
         The words, of course, were meant for Sarah. As though she were close enough to hear them.
         In Dave’s mind, the sign was there to tell him he was close enough to a town to make a parts run, and he just happened to wake up and go outside and see the sign, because there was something else at work.
         Maybe not black helicopters, but perhaps something more benevolent.
         Like maybe the same force or power that sent his daughter to tell him to take care of the rabbits.
         Dave continued to talk to himself. For some reason, it seemed to give him comfort.
         “Lindsey, I don’t know if you can hear me, sweetheart. I don’t know if you had anything to do with me finding this sign. But if you can hear me, and if this is you telling me to go get an alternator, I want you to know that I love you. I don’t know what happened, but if this means you’re in heaven, then I promise you I’ll see you again someday. I’ll be a better person. I’ll read the Bible more. I’ll try to help others more. Whatever I have to do to earn my way into heaven when I die, I’ll damn sure do it.”
         He pondered his words for a second, then said with a sheepish smile, “And I’ll try not to say ‘damn’ so much.”
         He looked around after he finished emptying his bladder to make sure no one was around.
         Then he returned to the big Freightliner and