What had led him to this state? Chip’s hands tightened around the wheel of the rental truck with all his worldly possessions inside.

There’d been the left on Swanson St S. That had been the GPS’s fault; it clearly hadn’t been updated to reflect the brand new one-way streets nearby. And then the left onto Marble Pkway, intended to correct for an earlier mistake but one that led to a half-hour causality loop of one way streets and left turns.

God, it was hard enough to make a right in that thing, that big, ponderous, boxy truck. A few go-around in the rental place parking lot just weren’t enough. Chip was now convinced he needed a full-on truck license to operate the vehicle safely.

He’d mistaken Smith Rd. for Smith St. and taken that left. Gotten caught in the wrong lane on East Loop, left turn only, left lane MUST turn left. And now, here.

Ahead of the truck was a morass of road construction, with tore-up pavement that looked too narrow to contain its bulk. And to the left, a low bridge with a crash bar and a bright yellow sign proclaiming that it was only 12’ tall.

Chris had no earthly idea how tall, or how wide, his rented truck was. And the light was changing, with angry honks coming in from behind.

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