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It isn't the car pulling right that wakes me up. I've already been blinking in and out sometime before sunrise, with the light changing and the smell of the air going from nighttime to daytime. Hearing Elvis saying something to Killer or else talking to himself. I'm not really awake yet, but it's like I've been watching a slide show, slides going by of the road, the desert, Elvis driving, the sky, peach pit on the dashboard. So I've seen the clouds go blue and then yellow, sun lower and then higher, seen a bit of the sort of signage that crops out by the roads near little towns. Then it was like a longer pause between slides, black screen, me dropping back off again, but not deep, because there were still some white clouds.

But when the front wheels pull way, way to the right, then I get awake really fast and grab the wheel and haul it around like a tuning peg. Not so hard as it might sound, because I'm already halfway across the driver's seat -- I fell that way when the car cut over -- and the road is totally empty, and so I have time to get my legs untangled and over the hump and my feet on the pedals. My hands are shaking, though, and I can't hear the engine over my heart thumping.

The town rolls up pretty fast and the first thing is the filling station. It's a couple of pumps outside of a diner, a handful of cars and pickups parked out front. I pull in off to one side and get out, I don't need to look in the back seat. I just go straight in. There's a long counter, and I pick a stool and put myself on it. The coffee comes without my having to say anything, guy behind the counter just flips the cup over and pours. I order some eggs and toast and look around. The grill's over by the wall. Over by the register there's a framed picture, a photo of the King. It's autographed. That makes me smile. I put plenty of Tabasco on the eggs and sip the coffee. I'm not rushing. When I'm done I pay up with a good tip plus some for gas.

I'm coming out again and digging the keys out of my pocket when I look over the road and see a dog looking back at me before he turns and jogs off into the weeds. He was there just a second. He looked a little like Killer, but you know it could have been a coyote.