What do you want from this world? Ben asked Meg when they first met.

I want to be a star.

Oh. Is that all?

I’ll start off as a Rockette and later star on Broadway.

I see. Reach into that glovebox and hand me that pack of cigarettes. The Lucky Strikes. Should be a special one in there we could share.

You mean a joint?

Precisely, Ben grinned. He kept driving on 80 til they came to 76 around Akron. They headed northeast. Dead deer lay on the road. Construction. Toll booths. Orange cones decorated the way. She handed him the pack. Muchos Gracias, Ben said, rolling his window down on his side of the 67 Dart. He stepped on the gas. Just a little.  It was a climb up that tree covered hill.

Why didn’t you pull that joint out earlier? Back in Illinois?

Didn’t want to scare you.

Mr. I ain’t scared of anything. They laughed.

And she wasn’t scared of anything. She wasn’t scared when her father left. She wasn’t scared of her mom’s drinking. She wasn’t scared of the boys in school who used to taunt her throughout the day. And she wasn’t scared of the rumors girls started about her.  Unfounded rumors. Just talk. Evil talk that high school girls do. She let it all slide off her back. Did it all hurt her? Yes. But she wouldn’t show it.

The radio was turned to an AM station playing golden oldies and news casts at the top of the hour. Stories of how Bush was ahead of Dukakis in the polls. The end of the Reagan Era. The weather for the Poconos. Dylan’s Lay Lady Lay came on. Ben hummed along. Meg looked out the window at the tall pines. She was a thousand miles from home. It felt good.