"I can't tell you how many times I've seen this." He worked on the handcuffs with a bobby pin and a needle. "Don't get the connection exactly, but there has to be something said for handcuffs." He jiggled a little more and the handcuffs came undone. He tossed them in the corner where the pile of handcuffs were.

Ellie took a deep breath, but she wasn't sure it was safe to breathe because Brother Sal lit a cigarette and smoke bellowed out around his neck.

"Thanks, " she backed away. She was ready to leave, but the cuts on her wrist were still there and it hurt a bit.

"Anytime, but come back to see me when you're not handcuffed," he smiled as he puffed on the cigarette.

"Why do they call him Brother Sal?" Ellie asked as they walked away from the gas station and toward the truck stop that Ellie thought she'd been too, before.

"He's special around here," Kale nodded as they walked. "Just about cut his head off with a beer bottle. "

"What about you? Where are your scars?"

"I'm not a wrist cutter." He shrugged.

"You think they'll go away," she looked at the handcuff marks.

"Probably not, if you keep staring at them." Kale found them a booth right away. The place was practically empty.

"Don't expect too much," he told her once they sat down across from each other. "The food here isn't what it used to be."

"What does that mean?"

"Down right nasty, sometimes." He pulled a face then with a grimace.

"Thanks." Her smile was small. She almost wanted to cry.

"Hey, don't knock it til you try it." He grinned.

Again she ordered the burgers and fries. She remembered how she'd savored that mustard burger. The fries had been crunchy and hot, smothered in ketchup.

Now the food looked like it had been under the heat lamp all day.

She snarled her nose up at the food. She hesitated to try the greasy fries. Ellie squirted ketchup all over them.

"Hey, watch it, ketchup has lost it's tomato. It might as well by syrup your putting on those," Kale told her.

The burger looked as if it had been microwaved. The bun was too soft. The fixings seeped through it. But she took a bite anyway because she was starving.

"It's not so bad, " she lied.

"Lets see you eat the whole thing," Kale shrugged.

Ellie took a deep breath and ignored her taste buds. She went for it, hoping she could keep it down.