Trucker Ch. 01: Lincoln

One hot summer morning, on the western edge of Lincoln, Nebraska, a trucker pulled his rig over to the shoulder of the highway to pick up a hitchhiker. He never stopped for hitchhikers but this one made him jake brake.

This hitchhiker was a young, blonde, blue-eyed girl carrying a satchel and wearing a grey, flippy-flared, short miniskirt with very bare legs. She also wore a white buttoned blouse tied up under her chest with the sleeves rolled up. Her hair was in a pony tail. She almost skipped to catch up to the rig, her heeled sandals clicking the pavement and her ponytail bouncing with each stride. With each stride she stretched each bare leg out ahead in front of her, landing on her toes as she ran, to keep her strapless heels from slipping off her feet.

Upon arriving at the passenger side door, she looked up inquisitively, unsure what to do next. The trucker leaned awkwardly across the cab, just managing to reach the latch on the passenger door and give it a push. She pulled the door open and the two blinked at each other momentarily.

"Hello," she said with a sweet voice, "I want to go Los Angeles. Are you going west very far?"

The trucker stared back at her in astonishment. The breeze outside fluttered the locks of her hair and fluttered the hem of her bouncy, short skirt. The flared, A-line skirt's cloth looked a bit stiff, but the wind still lifted it easily. Her free hand snapped around behind her and pinned the hem down reflexively. Not only was her white blouse tied up under her mid-sized C-cup breasts, but her cleavage suggested she wasn't wearing a bra. Her nipples were faintly visible through the thin, white fabric. He couldn't quite guess her age but she looked much too young to be out on the highway alone like this.

"Well, actually, I'm going to Oakland..." he started hesitantly, and paused. He scanned his mirrors and looked around for signs of anyone else. He'd heard of other truckers being robbed this way -- by using pretty girls as a decoy. Another rig flashed by to the left, its wake buffeting the sleeper cab. He'd lost track of all the hitchhiking laws of various states, but didn't want a refresher course just now. He scooted over towards the passenger door and extended his hand. "Look, give me your bag -- let me help you up here. It's dangerous to be on the side of the highway like this."

She handed him her bag, placed a heeled sandal hesitantly on the cab's ladder, and took his outstretched hand. The wind lifted her little skirt right up in the back as she hoisted herself up the rungs. He couldn't see around behind her, but he could see the skirt's hem suddenly flare at the sides. He saw bare hips before she quickly freed a hand up and pinned down the hem again as she scooted into the cab and sat down in the passenger seat.

"Close the door," said the trucker. She quickly pulled the door shut. Her eyes darted nervously around the cab. He anxiously checked his mirrors once more and looked at her again as she perched. Her legs looked so bare in the skirt. It was the way the skirt flared. Like a cheerleader skirt, but not as pleated. He saw how her smooth, bare, slightly-tanned thighs had widened just a bit as she had sat down. She looked so young. He started up the rig again, keeping tightly to the highway shoulder as other vehicles passed.

"How old are you, miss?" he asked.

"I just turned eighteen today!" she said brightly. He quickly touched the brakes and brought the rig to a halt on the shoulder again. Her smile froze. He stared at her for a moment in the awkward silence.

"Look, I don't want to be a jerk here, but can I see some sort of ID? I can't afford to get myself into any kind of trouble." He had a vision of a minor on the run from something, and exotic, felony charges being brought against him. His income would vanish.

She nodded earnestly, her eyes wide, and rummaged in her satchel before producing a New York State driver's licence. The trucker scrutinized it carefully. He knew what fake ID looked like -- he'd been a bouncer a long time ago. Sure enough, there was today's date, minus eighteen short years, clearly printed on the licence. The licence had been issued to her about a year ago. He handed it back to her.

"So your name is Cody, and you're from Buffalo? And today's actually your birthday?" he asked. He let the rig start to trundle along the shoulder again. Even at eighteen, this girl was young enough to be his daughter. She was obviously someone else's daughter and the voice of reason kept whispering for him to drop her off somewhere safe.

"Yes," she smiled sweetly. "I'm Cody. And yes, I'm from Buffalo. And yes, it's my birthday today! What's your name?"

"Well Cody, happy birthday, I guess. I'm Hal. I'm from Macon." Hal pondered the possibility of driving to the next Nebraska State Patrol station, two or so hours down the highway in North Platte, and just dropping her off there. It was a wonder that one of their cars hadn't found her first. The state patrol's headquarters were just behind them in Lincoln but he didn't want to waste time turning the rig around and frightening her in the process. Besides, he had a haul to deliver and a schedule to keep.

Cody extended her hand and let Hal shake it while he did a check in the driver side mirror and merged back on the highway. "Thank you! Pleased to meet you, Hal. And I don't have any money to pay for your gas."

Hal looked back over at her. She sat on the forward edge of the passenger seat, knees together. Her miniskirt covered her upper thighs in the front. He could tell from the way it bunched in the back that it hadn't completely covered her behind when she sat down on the seat. She kept her knees together and her dainty mules flat on the floor, but she had arched her heels up out of her mules and was letting her weight rest just on her tip toes. Her feet looked gorgeous. The inside arches of her feet were delicate, high and beautiful. They reminded him of gymnasts and dancers. She rested her elbows on her bare knees in this position, and rested her chin in her hands, looking back at him with innocent, wide eyes.

"Well, this is an awfully strange way for you to celebrate your eighteenth birthday, Cody. But I guess I can make this your birthday present," he said. "And the gas costs me just the same without you. But what are you doing out here, and how did you make it this far from Buffalo?"

"I took the bus to Chicago the other day and I got my clothes and money and stuff stolen at this shitty hostel there--"

"Wait, what?" Hal's mouth hung open. "Did you call the pol..."

"God no! So anyway," she continued breathlessly, "I had to hitchhike. This really old dude in a smelly car took me as far as Lincoln. Actually, I asked to be let out in Lincoln. His car was gross. After that I decided I wanted only big freight trucks. You're the first." She inhaled deeply.

"Why a big freight truck?"

"You must be going a long way. And you must be safe. You truckers have radios and always look out for each other, right?"

"I guess. But we also look out for runaways and people wanted by the police."

Cody looked at him sideways. "Well I'm eighteen now, so I can run away legally. Anyway, I'm going to Los Angeles. I've always wanted to go to Los Angeles. I want to be a model and maybe a movie star. I want to be famous. So I'm going to Los Angeles to live my dream."

Hal fought the urge to burst out laughing. She caught his smirk.

"Why are you smiling? I can do this if I want. I have a Model Mayhem profile, you know."

"What's Model Mayhem?" he asked.

"Nevermind," she said. "Anyway, I'm going to go to L.A., shoot with the big photographers and get discovered. I even know how to take photographs myself." She pulled a small, prosumer DSLR out of her satchel.

Hal looked over at the camera. "What did you parents think of this idea?" he asked.

"Don't ask me about my parents," she said. "I only have one, anyway." She shifted in her seat, repositioning her arched feet. Hal's eyes flicked to her bare legs and watched their shape change as she shifted. Her legs looked so bare and smooth.

"When did you decide to do this?" he asked.

"A couple of days ago," she said. "I'd thought about for a while."

"I see. Does your... ah, parent know?"

"No. She doesn't. Well, I left her a note. Don't ask me that stuff, k?"

Hal sighed. "Look, I don't want any trouble."

"I'm not in trouble," she said. "It's cool." She paused and then her tone became soft, shy and apologetic. "You don't have to take me if you don't want to, though. I don't want to be any trouble to you. You can drop me off right now if you want."

Hal glanced again at her. She looked at him with her soft, blue eyes. Her blonde hair was tousled, and her ponytail was coming apart slowly. Her dewy perspiration collected into faint rivulets in between her breasts and her face glowed.

"I'm not sure how far I can take you," he said after a silence. "But let me at least get you to Cheyenne."

"Thank you, Hal," she said softly. She leaned back in her seat and stretched, arching her back, and keeping her toes pointed. He could hear bare skin rubbing against more bare skin as she moved.

"You must be hungry," he said, "There's a bag of apples in the mini-fridge behind your seat."

"Yes, I am very hungry!" she said and moved cautiously out of her seat to look around behind for the fridge. Hal kept his eyes on the road. Cody was being careful to keep her skirt brushed down as she moved, but he could sense how the skirt swished and danced as she slid off the seat and leaned around to reach the fridge. She swung her hips and backside dangerously close to his right shoulder as she opened the door. Hal could almost feel just how bare her thighs were as she awkwardly retrieved an apple from the fridge.

"Is this where you normally sleep?" she asked, looking back at the giant sleeper berth behind them. It was like being aboard a space shuttle. The sleeper berth was definitely wide enough for two, Hal thought, and then quickly dropped the thought. Cody was back in her seat.

"Yes, often I crash there... but I think it'll probably be a motel, tonight," he said evenly.

Cody was busy attacking her apple and nodded absently. With each bite, the sound of crunching would fill the cab before dissolving into smacking and gulping as she devoured it noisily, without a trace of self-consciousness. Her lips were wet with juice.

"God, that was good. I haven't eaten in a day. Can I have another?" she asked.

"Yes -- of course, yes. Do you want to stop for lunch in North Platte? There's some good truck stops there." And he could always leave her at one of them, he thought to himself. If he came to his senses in time.

"Yah," she said, as she stood up again to reach around for the fridge. Hal gulped and riveted his eyes on the highway. He could feel something brush his shoulder as she swiveled around again to open the fridge. He knew that if he glanced over his right shoulder, he would be able to see right up the back of her cute, little skirt. His eyes would be able to follow all that bareness upwards, right up underneath her bouncing hem.

It was over in a moment and Hal breathed out in relief. She was back in her seat and attacking the second apple. Hal kept his eyes forward and listened to her. It sounded like she was kissing it as she ate it. Hal was about to let her know where the garbage was when she suddenly rolled her window down. The cab was blasted with wind from the pressure change as she tossed two apple cores out the open window. The wind tossed her hair and picked her skirt hem off her lap. She squeaked, and fought it back down with one hand and rolled the window back up quickly. Hal caught a generous but fleeting glimpse of bare upper thighs.

"What did you do that for?" he asked wearily.

"There were a bunch of birds back there. I wanted to feed them!"

"That was a wildlife management area. There's a bunch of them along this highway. Just toss them in the trash here next time."

"Oh, okay." She seemed confused. "They're biodegradable anyway." Hal didn't say anything.

She sat back in her seat and stretched her legs out. She pointed her toes and slowly wiggled her heeled sandals off into her soft, bare feet. With a hiss of bare skin, she slid a thigh up over another to cross her legs and gazed intently out the window like a cat. As before, the heel of her bare foot arched up off the floor of the cab, leaving just her tip-toes touching the floor. She arched the bare foot of her crossed leg, dangling in the air, and began pointing her toes. Then harder. Then harder still, until the arch of her foot sucked away Hal's breath. Keeping her toes pointed and her foot arched -- taut and almost trembling now -- she gradually lifted her crossed leg straight out in front of her until her pointed toes grazed the dashboard in front of her. She let her pointed toes gently brush the laminate and plastic, up and down, ever so slightly, before slowly bringing her foot back down and relaxing it. Then she repeated it again, pointing her toes like a gymnast and rubbing them against the dash, all the while staring absently out the passenger window.

Hal was growing hard in his jeans. Hard enough that it was starting to hurt. He couldn't help it, watching her legs out of the corner of his eye. It was hard not to steal glances at her pretty bare foot, especially when it arched like that. And why was she doing that? Didn't she know that drove him crazy with how good it looked?

She turned her head and caught him glancing at her, and she dipped her chin and smiled shyly.

"Where did you learn how to point your toes like that?" he asked.

Cody blushed. "Gymnastics," she said shyly.

Hal cleared his throat nervously. "I love this part of the country the most," he said, to break the awkwardness, and try to cover up the fact that she'd caught him watching her.

"Around here?" she asked.

"Yes, here, the Great Plains," he said. "My great grandfather on my mother's side was an Oglala Sioux, you know. My mother said he knew Black Elk."

"Are you an Indian?" she asked, with wonderment in her voice. "You don't look like an Indian."

"I'm not," he laughed. "But I kind of wish I was. Every time I'm out on the Great Plains it just feels so much like home, you know, even though I'm from the South." He could feel himself finally softening.

"Oh. Okay. So who's Black Elk?" she asked.

"Ah. He was a medicine man. A wise man. I keep a book by him in the magazine rack there behind you."

She reached around a found a very battered paperback book which hadn't been opened in a long time. It was titled Black Elk Speaks. Hal didn't say anything further and let her flip through the book as he drove on. She kept reading for a few pages. It was about twenty minutes before Hal realized she'd nodded off. He smiled to himself -- it was not a book she was likely going to read just now.

Eventually the rig rolled into North Platte and Hal pulled off the highway into the giant parking lot of a truckstop diner he was familiar with. Cody awoke with a start and looked around. The Black Elk book had slipped off her lap and down between their seats while she dozed.

"Lunch?" Hal asked, retrieving the book and slipping it back into the magazine rack. Cody smiled and nodded shyly.

Hal climbed down from the cab and walked around the rig's front to the passenger side. Cody had just climbed down the ladder with her camera slung over her shoulder, and was slamming the door shut. Hal noted how she kept one hand down behind her, guarding the hem of her mini skirt in the midday breeze. As they crossed the parking lot, the sound of Cody's heels, gritty on the asphalt, mixed with the ambient sounds of the highway and idling trucks.

When they entered the diner, all eyes went to Cody. Then to Hal, then back to Cody. She seemed oblivious to the stares but Hal suddenly felt very self-conscious and ushered Cody toward a booth in the far corner by the front windows. Heads slowly turned as they walked down the aisle. Other truckers paused between coffee sips to follow her short skirt's hemline as it twitched from side to side while she walked. The sound of her heels on the scuffed vinyl tiles echoed in Hal's ears. They slid into the booth and a server gave them menus. Hal was grateful that she neither stared at, nor seemed curious about, the cute 18-year old girl sitting across from him.

Cody made short work of her decision. "Milkshake, cheeseburger and fries," she announced and put the menu aside. Hal suddenly became aware of his belly bulge and wished he could develop an appetite for the meals he knew he ought to have. He ordered his favourite open-face chicken sandwich and glass of water.

"That comes with a coke," said the server.

"I don't need the coke," said Hal apologetically.

"I'll have it then!" Cody blurted.

Hal smiled and shrugged. "Coke's fine," he said. He turned back to Cody and found himself staring down the barrel of her camera. Before he could react, he heard the shutter click. "Whoa," he protested.

"Just a pic," she said. She aimed the camera out the window. "If I ever get access to my tumblr again."

"What's a tumbler?"

"It's like, a blog with photos. I update it with my netbook when I get a chance. I also have Instagram but I haven't posted since I left."

Hal pretended he understood. Then he did. "Maybe, don't put my photo on the internet," he suggested. She nodded and shrugged.

"My netbook and phone got stolen anyway." Hal nodded sympathetically, and eyed her camera.

"You really like taking photos? Do you like it more than modeling?"

"I like modeling more than taking photos. But taking photos is fun." They paused while the server set a milkshake in front of Cody. Cody slid the camera across the table to Hal. "Try it," she said. Hal took the camera hesitantly.

"I don't know how to work this," he laughed.

"Here let me put it on the auto settings." She took it back and flicked some buttons and a dial expertly before giving it back. "Try it now."

Hal aimed the camera at her. Cody instantly posed, cocking her head a little to the side and smiling. It was almost unconscious, instinctive. Her gesture sparked a sudden thrill through Hal as he pressed the shutter button. He then looked at the back of the camera. Cody looked adorable.

"Wow!" he breathed, and aimed it at Cody again, who was sucking on her milkshake. She cocked an eyebrow and held the pose, her lips pursed around the straw. Hal clicked. She shifted the pose, but only a little. Hal took the hint and clicked again, and then looked at the back of the camera again.

"Let me see," she said, leaning across the table.

"I think I know what you mean about addictive," said Hal. His heart was beating hard and his mind was racing. Cody looked at the back of the camera, her cheek inches from Hal. He could feel her breath.

"Yup," she said as she looked at the pics and smiled. She put the camera back into his hands and sat back as the server brought their orders.

Hal put the camera down beside him. "I guess I could stand to learn some pointers," he said.

"Tell you what," she smiled slyly. "I'll teach you how to take photos, and you drive me further than Cheyenne. At least to Salt Lake City."

Hal laughed. "Alright, deal. You teach me photography, I'll get you to Salt Lake." He extended his hand and she shook it with solemnity.

Cody devoured her cheeseburger and fries the same way she'd eaten the apples. Hal wondered when she'd last had a proper meal. When she finished, she got up to use the washroom and Hal pulled aside the server. "Could you bring a slice of that chocolate cake and maybe put a candle in it, if you have one?" he whispered. She nodded and smiled and was back in a minute with the cake and a candle. She lit the candle with a match just as Cody returned from the washroom. Cody's eyes popped.