The engine was so loud it sent vibrations up her thigh. She felt her legs buzz with the exhilaration, and leaning over from the passenger seat she whispered over the din.
“Faster!” She said.
He shifted down hard into a corner letting the back end fly out into a wide drift, plumes of smoke billowing from the tires. He feathered the throttle until it straightened out and then smashed the pedal into the floor, letting up only long enough to move the shifter from 4th to 5th gear. The symphony of gasoline and heat and exhaust was lifting him up and up until the cacophony was such that they could barely hear the sirens. They faded easily into the background. Leaving only the rise and fall of a motor. He looked at her wide eyed, trying to find the limits of what a small block V8 in a fiberglass body could do.
“Want to drive?” he asked her as he maneuvered onto the interstate bobbing in and out of the light traffic.
“Now?” She laughed as she pushed on his shoulder.
He braked hard as he came up on a pair of vehicles, one passing the other as each drove side by side. He jerked the wheel hard onto the narrow strip of asphalt between the left lane and the median. “I think you’d be a hell of a getaway driver.”
Gravel flew up from the drivers side, sending small pebbles into the open cockpit of the 1959 Corvette Jack had stolen from his dad 4 days ago. It landed in their hair, stinging them in face as he jerked the wheel hard back onto solid pavement. The tires screeched, holding them to the road in a way that seemed to defy the laws of physics. The flustered motorists being overtaken gently bumped one another before slamming hard on their brakes. The police, unwilling to be so reckless hung back.
She laughed again, as the adrenaline and the motor vibrations ignited something in her.
“Lets not stop ok”. She ran her fingers through his hair as the wind blew over them, pushing gravel out. “Let’s never stop.”
“You got it.” The sirens were barely audible but he checked the mirror out of habit. The police had fallen farther and farther behind.
In Idaho in 1974 the newly opened highway 84 had just come through, with exits and onramps 20 miles apart. It was going to be another little bit before Jack could get off and find his way out of the shit show that was bringing up the rear of his little jaunt. No matter though.
“Where do you want to go baby?” He asked.
“Everywhere baby, every single place anyone has ever known, that’s where I want to go.”
“You got it,” is all he said giving her a sly wink.
The traffic didn’t bother for a few minutes, save for the occasional semi truck. The police were far behind now. They cruised for a bit touching 100 MPH as they went.
He took the car out of gear occasionally so that he could rev it up to the redline listening to the motor scream and sputter, before letting it back into 5th and putting the hammer down again.
“This was wasted on my dad.” He said aloud to no one at all. She leaned across the console and nestled her head in his shoulder. He turned on his blinker to signal his exit to junction 93 south. She turned to him, concerned.
“Back to Twin?”
“Nah baby we are gonna blow right through there. After Twin is Nevada and then California.”
He revved the engine twice in excitement. The road for a mile or two was completely empty so he gunned it. The two lanes coming out of Jerome county met the edge of the Snake river canyon where the Perrine Bridge connected it to Twin Falls county. Across both of those lanes was a roadblock leaving no space through which Jack could drive his stolen Corvette.
“I don’t want to stop. Let’s never stop.” He felt her hand on his as he let it rest on the shift knob. “Over there,” she said pointing just to the right of the bridge.
He looked over at her.
“You got it.” Foot down hard, he accelerated toward the roadblock sending police scattering, save for two steadying themselves to open fire.
“Now.” She murmured putting more pressure on his right hand, holding it firmly in gear. He gently moved the wheel to right with his left.
Narrowly missing a fence post they skipped along through the brush of the high desert until the ground gave way underneath them, and leaving the edge felt only the open air.
“Everywhere, baby. I am going to show you everywhere.”