The soldier is in Maryland parked on the street next to another truck that is broken down. The other truck has 2 drivers and he may have to let them into his truck tonight so they don’t freeze to death because their truck won’t run to warm the cab. He says they are “filthy bastards, neither of them have any teeth,” but never mind that, at the moment he has to go to sleep.

“So you’re just going to go to sleep and leave those guys?”

“Well, yeah. I’m sure if they get cold enough they’ll come bang on the door like everyone else does (he means whores). Some guy banged on the door last night and woke me up,” he said.

“Yeah, what did he want?”

“Oh his car broke down, he’s out of gas, the same thing they all say. Some hard luck story, he was a crackhead.”

“Did you give him anything?”

“I gave him 3 or 4 bucks.”

“Oh.”

“And he said, can you make that a 10? NO, I said!”

“Oh man, I’m worried about you.”

“Worried about me?” He laughed. “P, don’t worry about me, I have a knife. I was ready to cut that cut into thin slivers, put him in the trunk of his car and drive to the 7-11 and get me soda before dropping him and his car off.”

I snorted.

“Yeah, P, what’s he going to have to do? Come through the window? Before he even gets started, he’ll have a few slices across his jugular and.. . (I don’t remember what else he said) then I will probably stick my knife in his ear so yeah. Don’t you worry about me, P. Anyone fucks with me, they’re dead.”

Mars Mercury again. Knives and violence and vehicles