"Like, how long has that car been following us?" Brian asked. The car was sticky and wet with the dew from the morning: the windows hadn't been rolled up once during the whole night.

Syrus looked cooly out his rear-view window and smiled.

"The whole way."

"What?!?"

"Don't look so worried. They'll never get to the park."

Syrus reached over and took his sister's wrist in his hand. He shook her slightly and waited for her to get her boundaries.

As soon as Sabine noticed her head on Brian's shoulder, she smiled knowingly. Had she known his dream? Brian was anything but worried about it.

Angela sat up. She had been awake for a couple of hours: watching Rickie as his lips moved in his dreams, his head slung back on the seat of the car, and his eyelids tightly clenched against his cheeks.

"I wonder what Rickie dreams," she thought.

But then she saw Jordan. He was far from sleeping; his hand under his chin in an intelligent fashion, his eyes searched the floor as if for some key clue to this mystery.

She wanted to reach out to him, give him poetry to understand.

But then she remembered.

A boy who can't read, can't understand poetry.

"Damn," she thought. "How restricted we all are."

Jordan knew Angela was watching him.

He understood.

Syrus smiled. The car behind him was none of his concern. Only the people in this one.

"Are we there yet?" Rayanne asked in her sweet, piercing voice. "I've been sleeping long enough for us to have passed millions of amusement parks."

"Sit back and relax, Rayanne," Angela teased, "I thought you'd want to spend this much time in the car...I mean, Syrus is sitting right there and all...."

Rayanne shrieked and gave Angela a backwards smack.

"Well at least...." But before Rayanne could retort, Sabine yelled.

"Syrus! Watch out you dumbass! There's a ditch..."

"Shut up, Sabine. And leave the driving to me. I see that ditch. And trust me, it's going to save us."

Time stood still.

"Whatever, Syrus." She smiled, and smacked him playfully.

"Are you all ready?" Syrus asked. "Good."

He floored the accelerator.