Crimson Highway

designed for only one person. And, Hugh was a big guy, so one of him was a crowd in this small space.
When he saw steam rising from the hot pot, he interrupted his sandwich making to pour the near-boiling water through the grounds and into a large-size foam cup. He liked his coffee black and strong ... very strong.
Hugh finished his lunch fairly quickly, and used his jug, there being no restroom facility anywhere nearby. He then pulled back onto the road. He had a long way to go before bedding down for the night.
He knew he wouldn’t make it all the way to Burley, Idaho, on his available legal driving hours, so he’d have to find a place to park for the night—probably at Wells, Nevada.
The next town Hugh would come to was Tonopah, and shortly after that was when he would have the encounter with the strange, obnoxious and enigmatic hitchhiker named Jenny.
He had just finished telling Jenny that he was planning to drop her off in Burley.
Hugh glanced over at her to see how she was taking that. “You OK with being dropped off in Burley?”
She only shrugged.
After a moment had passed, Jenny looked intently at him, making him feel uncomfortable. She appeared to be trying to gather the words to ask a question.
Darn, she’s a pretty girl, Hugh noticed, not for the first time … uncomfortable with the thought.
He was grateful that he had the need to keep the truck pointed straight down the road as an excuse to keep his face turned away from her intent gaze.
Then the question came. “That story, the one with the overturned truck in the middle of the road? When did you say that was?”
“It was fairly recently, a few months ago. Toward the end of winter.”
Leaning forward in her seat, and turning her upper body toward him, giving him her full attention, she put her intent gaze on Hugh again. “Did you ever find out what happened? Why he went off the road?”
“Nope, never did. It was just one more accident that I saw, and then I passed on. Been many, many like that.” He wondered now about her interest in that particular incident.
“Just north of Susanville?”
“Uh, yes.” Now his curiosity was definitely aroused. He couldn’t recall exactly, but he was pretty sure he hadn’t mentioned that Susanville was the name of the remote, northern California town in his story.
“By the way, mister human, what are you hauling?”
“Got a whole load of canned food.”
Apparently, after that, she didn’t have any more questions for him. She sat back in her seat with her feet up on the dash, and stared out the windshield, seeming to withdraw into her own thoughts.
“Be coming up to Ely pretty soon,” Hugh told her, wishing that she wasn't putting her feet all over his clean dash. “That’s where Highway 6, which is what we are on right now, meets with Highway 50, and where Highway 93 begins. We’ll continue north from there on 93 to Idaho.”
Hugh had to laugh to himself because Highway 50 claimed to be the “loneliest road in America.” The road they had been on for the past couple of hours could have made that claim, too—most roads in Nevada could, for that matter.
Hugh was certain the only reason that Ely had rated a truck stop was because of the confluence of these highways. No other reason, really, to speak of in this God-forsaken part of the state. He normally didn’t plan to stop there—but just drive on through if he still had legal hours left to drive.
“Good, because I need to take a jug break,” she said, testily, almost angrily, as if blaming Hugh for her need to go.
“That’s fine. We’ll stop at the truck stop there where you can use the restroom. As long as we have to stop, I’ll buy a little fuel, so you can get a shower credit.”
“Are you accusing me of needing a shower?” she asked, baiting him for another fight.
“Yes. Frankly, you are getting a bit ripe,” Hugh replied, stepping into it.
Jenny remained silent after that, pressing back into her seat, arms folded. She had a petulant look on her face, obviously smarting at his remark.
She can sulk all she wants. He’d changed his mind about taking her all the way to Burley. He’d had his fill of her rotten attitude, so he had no intention of having her with him when he drove out of Ely. But, at least she’d get a shower out of it.
He drove them through Ely to the truck stop at the other end of town. First thing he did was pull into the fuel island to buy 50 gallons of fuel. Then he drove around to the truck-park area, backed into a slot, and shut down the engine.
“OK, little lady, time for you to get out. You can use the restroom and take a shower.”
She didn’t budge from her seat, suspicion written all over her face like she knew he was going to leave without her as soon as she was out of sight.
“Look, I’ll go in with you. I need to be the one who gets the shower ticket for you anyway.”
“I’m not going to take a shower, and then get back into these filthy rags,” she threw back at Hugh.
He couldn’t blame her for that. “Come on. I’ll take care of that for you, too.”
They went into the truck plaza store together. He let her pick out a cheap pair of running sweats, a T-shirt and a couple of other items. He told her to grab a toothbrush and toothpaste, and anything else she needed in that department as well.
Hugh paid for all of that, and showed his fuel receipt so he could get her shower ticket.
There was nobody else