Winter In The Blood

The narrator gets a ride in an Oldsmobile with a family: a man, his wife, and their daughter. The narrator rides in the backseat with the daughter, who is frail, and tunes out of the parents’ conversation, despite the man’s attempts to include him. He falls asleep and wakes up when the car pulls suddenly off the road. The girl runs out of the car to vomit behind some bushes. The parents explain that she is in poor health and neglects to take her medication. The narrator says they’re only five miles from the ranch and that he could walk, but the man says it’s too far in this heat. The water in the reservoir is low and the plants around it are drooping. The man asks if there are any fish in the water; the narrator says there are turtles. When the daughter returns, the family drives the narrator to the entrance of the ranch; they give him a fresh peach and take a photo of him, with his permission.