Release

(continues from Clench)

Raju glanced in the mirror at the kid in the back seatand thought of making small talk. He let the thought go. She looked zoned out. Drugs probably, he thought. Then he let that thought go too – floating upwards to join its brothers in the nothing-o-sphere.

If the boy hadn’t already paid her fare and told him where to drop her, there’s no way he would have picked this one up. She had the stink of bad karma, not to mention the stink of wet sidewalk. A big smear of mud...