[stone angels, part II]

[morelikeasponge]

"Look out!"

It's a good thing Peter hasn't met Niki yet, because if he had, the door handle would be pulp. Luckily, his strength is all his own, and the only damage is to his whitening knuckles.

Comments

[gonna_live]

"Shut up I'm tryin' to concentrate -- "

At least Kaylee's hands are at ten and two.

She's leaning over the wheel. Her head does not graze the ceiling when the car hits the curb, and jumps.

[morelikeasponge]

Peter's does, but the reddening imprint on his forehead fades with his cursing.

"Can you go any faster?" he says, still clutching his head with one hand.

[gonna_live]

"Can't you hear that sound?"

Probably not, because it's not strictly a sound; Kaylee's feeling the transmission protest through the accelerator, and she doesn't like what she's feeling.

Nonetheless, she floors it, and the car lurches ahead.

Behind them are three cars.

The closest one has a fox-tail dangling from the rearview mirror; the brim of the driver's hat hides his face.

"Pull the gorram map, tell me how to get out of town -- "

[morelikeasponge]

Peter scrabbles frantically at the glove compartment, and the map flutters to the floor as it springs open.
NISSAN VERSA
He lurches foward after it; his voice is muffled. "I'm trying --"
NISSAN VERSA
"Okay, I think -- we want to head south -- which way are we heading right now?" His head pops up again, and his eyes lock on the side view mirror. "Kaylee --"

[gonna_live]

When Peter turns away from the pay phone he doesn't look surprised, necessarily -- but dejected nonetheless. Kaylee nudges his shoulder, offers a wan, sympathetic smile, and doesn't say what she's thinking.

"Come on." Quiet. "We'll miss the train."

Nobody was home at the house in Hyde Park -- where they've left the car behind for good.

[morelikeasponge]

She doesn't say what she's thinking, but Peter's head jerks toward her, and something flickers in his expression.

He doesn't say anything.

The morning is bright and clear, sunlight shading between the white of morning and the gold of noon, and they end up weaving in and out of packs of other pedestrians. A tourist in a Hawaiian shirt hopefully waves them down to ask for a picture of him and his wife. Peter looks at the camera, at the nondescript street, and at Kaylee.

[gonna_live]

Kaylee shrugs.

[morelikeasponge]

Peter takes the camera, and a picture -- landscape, and then, when the man asks, portrait. "Thank you!" says the woman, and they move away after Peter mumbles, "No problem."

"Too bad you're not really here as a tourist," he adds to Kaylee, as they move on. "We could go see Times Square."