SON OF A BITCH,” NED SAID AS HE LOOKED OVER THE TOP OF THE GLASSES on the end of his nose. He sat at the end of the counter with a cup of coffee and the newspaper he had been waiting all day to read. The floor had been swept like he had asked and the dishes had all been washed like he had asked and there was only one table of customers. Three old women smoking and working crossword puzzles. He had only glanced at the front page headlines when he noticed the two girls walking across the parking lot. One white. One black. The same two he’d had to call in before.
He got up from the counter stool and walked over to the phone next to the cash register. He dialed the sheriff’s office and when the woman answered he said, “Hey. This is Ned over here at the truck stop. We got a couple of girls walking around knocking on doors again.”
“All right, Ned. They don’t quit, do they?”
“Don’t look like it. Don’t y’all ever keep them?”
“For what?”
“I don’t know. Scare them or something.”
“They don’t scare too easy. We’ll send somebody on over.”
“Fine.”
He hung up the phone. Watched the girls as they pointed at the different trucks. He could have gone out himself and run them off but they would have walked down the road and come back as soon as he was inside. Don’t get paid enough for that shit anyhow, he thought. He walked to the end of the counter and sat down with his eyes turned away from the window and he opened up the newspaper that would be today’s for only another hour.