CHAPTER TEN
I nestled back into the corner of the freight car and allowed the rocking to soothe me. The rhythmic clackety-clack of the wheels on the rails numbed me into a deep sleep - the first time I slept in days. The right side of my face had an angry bruise from falling on the sidewalk the night of Jake’s death, so I had to lean to my left, propping up my head with discarded newspaper.
The smell of urine mixed with straw was an indication that a rider had been there not long before me. Many of the jumpers honored the trains by not relieving themselves while aboard, but those of unsound mind or under the influence of alcohol or other substances relieved themselves where they slept. Doc had always referred to them as the “Boxcar Crashers.” As an uninvited guest on the Cannonball Expr
