Miami sweltered in the mid-July heat that rose in an undulating rhythm to meet the horizon, distorting its images like a wavy fun-mirror at a circus. Jake whistled along to an old Willie Nelson tune as he cautiously maneuvered his red Kenworth through the busy northbound traffic. He kept his speed a little under the limit, conscious of the damage the heat could do to his tires on one hand and mindful of a delivery date and time for his backhaul on the other.
A convertible full of laughing teenagers flew up beside Jake and blew the horn. Music vibrated their speakers and Jake’s eardrums as they laughed and waved. Jake smiled and waved back as they disappeared into the relentless horizon. At 53 he had put quite a few miles on his own youthful days; he grinned as he remembered misdeeds and resumed his whistling.
“Jake, it’s getting warm in here. Is something wrong with the air?” Ginny, Jake’s wife and driving partner, glanced at him with a worried frown as she leaned forward and laid a hand on the air vent. Jake checked his vent with a frown that mirrored his wife’s.
“Feels like it, honey. Either that or you got a little warm looking at those young studs in the convertible a minute ago.” He grinned at his wife with a wide, good-natured grin that showed both the gap between his teeth and the unusual dimple high up on his right cheek.
Ginny pressed the window button, felt the cool rush of air and laughed.
“Then those little blondes must have done a number on you, since we’re both warm.” Ginny laughed as Jake cocked his head sideways at her and grinned, a habit she still found endearing after 32 years and two children.
“Well, sugar, we can get it repaired now and be late delivering our load, or we can tough it out till we deliver this load and get home, then get it repaired.”
“Boy, I love the choices you give me.” Ginny leaned over and stuck her face out the window. Her shoulder-length hair whipped into a blond frenzy; its tips slapped and stung her eyes like little whips. She jerked her head in the cab of the truck and wiped her eyes.
