The Trouble with Bliss

  ***

  “Texas,” May keeps saying through her tears as the bus pulls from Port Authority.

  “Yes, yes, Texas,” Torc echoes, still drunk and awkward in a pair of Hattie’s yellow Capri pants and flip-flops. They’d hastily dressed and bolted from Hattie’s place—got out of there immediately after seeing the man on fire scorch past like a faulty firework.

  They had to step around the charred body on their way out. Crumpled like a singed blanket, the sight and smell of the dead man knotted Torc’s stomach. He instantly vowed to become a vegetarian.

  They slipped into a cab just as the fire trucks arrived in front of the building.

  At Port Authority, they tipped the driver six dollars on a fourteen-dollar ride, and with the remaining money Hattie had given them, bought bus tickets for Austin, Texas.

  Or rather, tickets for Memphis.

  They didn’t have enough for tickets all the way to Texas so they settled for Tennessee. They’d figure the rest out later.

  Torc puts his arm around May, comforting her as she cries. The driver grinds the bus into gear. It yanks forward, exiting Port Authority and heading toward the Midtown tunnel. Heading out of the city.

  Out of New York.

  Chapter 43