On the Way to San Jose by Jere' M Fishback

Author:Jere' M Fishback
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, coming of age, lgbt, bisexual, contemporary, college, road trip
Publisher: NineStar Press

Chapter Ten

Two hours later, they stopped to fill the van’s fuel tank at an exit leading to the town of Deming, New Mexico. The terrain surrounding them differed from that of west Texas: less sagebrush, more cacti. And the mountains in the distance were craggier and steeper than those they had previously encountered. The sky seemed a brighter blue as well.

They took turns using the men’s room at the gas station/convenience store, and during his turn, Levi took the time to wash his face with cool water in the men’s room sink. He studied his visage in the wall mirror after he did so. His stubble gave him a swarthy appearance, and he wondered if perhaps he should shave soon. But then he recalled how Terrence had said he liked Levi’s stubble, so maybe shaving wasn’t necessary.

Back on the road, they passed any number of one-story towns where the most significant structures were high schools and courthouses: Gage, Wilna, and Separ. Conversation ceased; the only sound inside the van was wind rushing in through the windows. Jacob had fallen asleep again not long after they’d left Deming, but this time he wasn’t snoring. He lay on the van’s metal floor with his legs outstretched and his head resting on his bedroll. In the passenger seat, Terrence read a graphic novel titled Maus, authored by Art Spiegelman, a book Levi had seen kids reading back at Merritt Island High. The cover featured a swastika and a cat’s face with Hitler-like features.

Levi had never read a graphic novel—he considered them nothing more than glorified comic books—but a lot of kids he knew liked them. “Is that book any good?”

Terrence looked at Levi and nodded. “It’s about the Holocaust during the Second World War. Do you know much about it?”

Levi shrugged. “I know the Nazis murdered something like six million Jews, mostly in gas chambers.”

“It must’ve been a terrible time,” Terrence said. “Death and more death.”

Levi rubbed his chin with a knuckle. Then he asked Terrence, “Do you think abortion is murder? Is it immoral?”

After Terrence dog-eared the page he was reading from, he put the book aside. He looked at Levi and then turned his gaze to the windshield before he answered. “It’s a difficult question, isn’t it? Is a two-month-old fetus a living person or not? I mean, who knows?”

“I’ll tell you what I think,” Levi said. “The worst choice Taylor could make would be to have this baby she’s carrying. It’ll mess up my life, hers, and the baby’s as well. Even if I have to quit school and pay child support, I’m not going to marry Taylor, so the kid will grow up with no father in its life. How is that a good thing?”

Terrence brushed his bangs out of his eyes. “I totally get what you’re saying. A kid needs two parents. I think if my dad had stuck around when I was growing up, I would be a more confident person than I am today. A boy needs his father, day in and day out.

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