“Bit of a tight squeeze,” Les said.

Damn, I hadn’t even noticed him here when I opened the door. Now I had to jiggle myself around to find the handle, there, and open it again…

...and found myself in a parking lot next to a Yellow Roof restaurant.

My chevy, looking factory new, was parked a few feet away. Frost cast a shimmer over everything and, realizing my breath was crystallizing in front of me, I suddenly felt how cold it was.

Les, of course, didn’t feel a thing.

“Are you supposed to be my guardian angel or what?” I asked, settling in the front seat and putting the car heater on full. The initial blast of cold air made my teeth chatter.

“Ten out of ten for the ‘or what?’” he said. “You want to drive out that way.”

“What way?”

“That way. The secret highway.”

“Secret highway?”

“Yep, that way.” He leaned back as if he was sleeping. “Wake me at the next Yellow Roof,” he said.

Ten minutes later I stepped out of the car at a Yellow Roof resturant, sweating in the heat.