he went down the ramp onto the 101 off San Anselmo which would always reminded him of Hemingways From Whom the Bell Tolls  he was comforted whenever he drove on it

halfway down the ramp overlooking traffic north for at least a mile he saw a mile of red taillights braked in both lanes 

he said Somebody better be dead  a knee-jerk reaction

it had bothered his wife when she overheard him

it bothered his daughters when they overheard him

Christ Dad  somebody better be dead   What a horrible thing to say

he doubled down If somebodys making me sit in this traffic they better be dead

MyGod If Mom heard you say that they said

MyGod If your children heard you speak like that his wife said

there was no if about it theyd hear he wasnt apologising

they didnt know him when he lived in Chicago and drove a furniture delivery truck on the Kennedy Interstate 90 Interstates 94 and 190 the Dan Ryan the Eisenhower 

thats where the words came from

and more often than not they were true

there was plenty of blood on the road

he often drove across rivulets of blood

it sounded like he was going over sticky tar

bodies were big bags of blood that were punctured by steering wheels or heads were broken by windshields or blood seeped out of meaty things which he had no idea what they werewhat he was looking at        

he lived in the sticks

he and his wife sought to live there

living in the sticks meant he shouldnt have to contend with traffic let alone traffic at a standstill in a pounding rain

he lived in the sticks so he didnt have to say

                                                Somebody better be dead

1740,  Saturday,  9  3. 19

0133,  Sunday,  10  3. 19