“I know there isn’t. Why would anybody want to swipe a comb?”

“You didn’t have a comb.”

“No, I had one. I always have a comb.”

“If it isn’t here, you never had one.”

“You can buy a new comb for ten cents,” Ryan said. “A clean one. Why would anybody steal somebody else’s comb?”

J. R. Coleman said, “I’ll put you on the bus myself if you want me to.”

“That’s all right,” Ryan said. “I’ll see you.”

“You better not,” J. R. Coleman said.

Bob Rogers Jr. waited for Ryan to spot the pickup truck. He couldn’t miss it with the white-lettered sign on the door: RITCHIE FOODS, INC., GENEVA BEACH, MICH. But Ryan was looking around, up at the trees and up the street, acting casual as he came down the courthouse steps. Bob Jr. sat with his elbow out the window. As Ryan approached the truck Bob Jr. adjusted his straw cowboy hat, raising the funneled brim and squaring it over his eyes, then laid his wrist over the top of the steering wheel, resting it there. He knew Ryan was going to open the door and he let him do it, let him get that far.

“You wanted a ride somewhere?”

Ryan looked up at him. “You’re going north, aren’t you?”

“That’s right,” Bob Jr. said. “But you’re going south. One hundred and fifty miles due south to Detroit.”

“I thought I’d get my gear first.”

“You don’t need your gear. All you need’s a bus ticket. Or go over cross the street and stick your thumb out.”

Ryan looked up the street north, frowning in the sunlight, at the stores lining the street and the cars angle-parked in front. He looked at Bob Jr. again and said, “You got a cigarette?”

“No, I don’t.”

“What’s the square thing in your pocket?”

“That’s a square thing in my pocket,” Bob Jr. said.

“Well, I’ll see you.” Ryan slammed the door and started along the sidewalk.

Bob Jr. watched him. He waited until Ryan was almost to the corner before flicking the column shift with the tip of his finger and edging along close to the curb, his hands resting lightly on the thin steering wheel. When he was even with Ryan, he said, “Hey, boy, I wasn’t finished talking to you.” He rolled past him before stopping so Ryan would have to come up to him.