170 The Meadow They instinctively knew what they were supposed to do, as if they’d done it before. Maybe they had. Jim smiled to himself. Maybe they just keep getting reincarnated over and over again to always have it end back here. 2456 was the last out of the truck. At the bottom of the ramp, just before he entered the pen, 2456 swung his big head around and stared at Jim. A wind blew and Jim shivered, sickened by the smell and suddenly desperate for a shower and a beer. “That’ll be it, then,” he called to the foreman, and jumped back into his cab. Jim headed for the Flying J, where he could have a warm shower before he bedded down in his cab. He decided to check in with Karen first and get it over with. She answered on the third ring. Jim filled her in on his itinerary. “I dropped off my first load and am heading east now to pick up another. Any news from Jimmy?” He was in his second year at Berkeley. “You could call him yourself.” “He never picks up.” “Then text him. That’s what I do. He declared his major. Environmental studies.” “What does a person do with a degree in environmental studies?” Jim asked. In Jim’s mind, people went to college to study business or to become a doctor, even a chiropractor. “I don’t know what they do. Save the world, I guess. He’s interested in climate change and the impact of global warming, earth resources, and stuff like that.” “I don’t know,” Jim mumbled. “We’re spending a lot of money on that school. I’d like it if he learned something useful, something that will earn him a good living.” “We want him to finish college,” Karen said. “It’s important. And we will continue to support him.” “The more money I put into that kid, the weirder he gets.” The payoff didn’t seem worth it. Jim had worked his tail off
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