The days stretch out as he catches a ride with a lonely trucker. The man has many stops, and Philip must sit in the truck patiently waiting. He is not sure why he waits, he could easily slip out of the truck and go find someone else to give him a ride, but he likes this man. The man doesn't talk to him that much, giving him time to plan anything that he might be scheming. The man didn't concern himself with a lot of personal info, and they did not exchange names, though occasionally they would share stories, or random pieces of information.
Also, sometimes the man tells him stories from when he was in Vietnam, and how the world was in the sixties. He tells him gruesome stories about the battles. How the man had run into many kids with bombs strapped to them. He also talks about watching some of his buddies die. Philip's favorite is the story about how the man was patrolling ahead to try to find a safe place for him and the people with him. And one of his best friends, someone who he had known since kindergarten in the small Ohio town where they had grown up was with him. They had almost tripped over a Viet Cong who was sleeping, so the man had disposed of him quickly as he still slept, on the jungle floor, with a slit to the throat. As the man had been disposing of the Viet Cong, his buddy was walking further ahead. He was only ten feet away from the man when he stepped on a land mine, and the pieces of his carcass flew straight at the man.
The trucker lets Philip off in Kansas. Philip has asked him to leave him there, he wasn't sure why, but he felt like going into the rural areas of the country for awhile. At Wichita, where Philip gets out at the truck stop, and watched the trucker go on his way, he sees a bumper sticker advertising for Odin, Kansas. He decides to use Odin as an alias, because he doesn't want to tell people his real name. He figures it is for the best, so that people don't associate him with his tobacco king father.
He actually thought it is funny, and wonders why he hadn't thought of it before; It took him only a second for him to change himself into godlike status, and he was going to make sure he let people know it. He figures he will have to start using it outside of Kansas though, since he doesn't want people to think it is after the town. But if they haven't heard of the town, and ask, he will be happy to tell them the story of Odin the norse god, and his many adventures. He will tell people that his parents were literature majors, and also hippies, and had named all their children weird names.
The first time he uses it is in Tennessee.
He had caught a ride there with another trucker. At one of the truck stops after he had been let out, he meet a woman named Melinda. A hot little number with bleached blonde hair, smoky sexy grey eyes, and a taunt little figure. He told her his name, and she recognizes the meaning instantly.
She was a librarian, well a fired librarian. She had been fired because she grew up in a small town, and they had had to close down the library because of lack of funds. So, she was taking a road trip across country.
The night they first met after eating dinner at the truck stop they went to the hotel that she was staying. He sat on the bed as she brushed her hair in front of him. It turned him on. They talk about random and meaningless things for awhile, and then the conversation turns.
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"You look kind of young," She says in a sultry voice, sitting next to him on the bus. She is gazing into his blue eyes, watching the glimmer and sparkle, and mezmerize her as she talks.
He had taken the glasses off earlier, he can mostly see for the most part, just some of the things on the edge of the room are a bit blurry. He gives her a soft con-man smile. "I am a bit young, but I skipped a few grades." He moves himself closer to her on the bed. He doesn't want to give her the impression that he has never been with a woman. That is not the kind of thing that Odin would be like. In his mind, Odin is an enchanter, a don juan, he has had many dates, and he has more to come. He touches her knee softly, caressing it lovingly. He likes the feel of the silk
"Ahh, a genius then." She smiles, moving closer to him as well. She is beginning to like this kid. She thinks he is about 20, which is only six years younger than herself. She believes him to be more worldly because she can't see through his lies. She is too attracted to his eyes, and his mannerisms. She feels herself losing all will power, and wanting to let him take her.
He doesn't answer just pulls her into a deep passionate kiss, his tongue slipping into her mouth so he can explore it.
She doesn't protest, as the kiss deepens farther, and he pushes her onto the bed.