ANDY SAT WITH his back to the road, high up on the restaurant verandah of the Panamint Springs Resort, a rustic eatery with a fading old motel out back, set at elevation between the sand dunes and the badlands. He was the only customer. He amused himself reading the list of beer on the menu: Big Sky Moose Drool, Descartes Inversion, New Belgium Fat Tire, Pliny the Elder, Monk’s Blood, Consecration, Salvation, Defenestration, Sanctification. The Abyss. He ordered an Arrogant Bastard.
He nursed his Arrogant Bastard, waiting for his ribs and smashed potatoes.
He stretched out on the wooden bench. The dust from the salt playa was blowing across the grey road, covering a white sedan coming up, nose to the sky.
THE WHITE CAR made a sharp left in front of the verandah. Johnny parked the vehicl
