Chapter 17 - Page 244 - Trouble In Chicago

  Finally Jim was ready to go. He looked around and saw that both girls were preoccupied. He reached up to a strap that hung down from the top of the truck and pulled on it, holding it for several seconds. The noise of the air horn was deafening. When he released the strap, both girls had their ears covered.

   "What was that, Papa?" Shanha asked loudly. Rhasha was sitting on the edge of her seat, her eyes fixed on the strap Jim had pulled.

   "That's called an air horn," Jim replied.

   Shanha stood in the space between Jim and Rhasha's seats. "Do it again, Papa!"

   Jim pulled on the strap again. The air horn blared. Rhasha and Shanha giggled and held their ears. It was time to hit the road. Jim slowly pulled away from the loading dock. Within minutes, the semi was trucking down Interstate 20. Rhasha and Shanha watched excitedly as Jim maneuvered in and out of traffic.

   Rhasha was watching all the cars as they passed. "Riding in a truck is almost like flying. We sit way up here and look down on all the cars below us."

   "Yes," Jim replied, "but there's one major difference."

   "What's that?"

   Jim looked at Rhasha and smiled. "There's a lot more traffic down here than there is up there." He pointed toward the sky.

   "Yes Papa," Shanha said, "but I'm sure cars get out of the way when a truck comes through."

   "Angel," Jim replied, "you'd be surprised by how many foolish people drive cars. And trucks, too," he added. "Many truck drivers are tired and sleepy. They don't mean to be careless, but sometimes, they are."

Rhasha didn't understand what Jim meant. "If they get sleepy, why don't they stop and rest?"

   The only time Jim had ever driven a truck was when he first started his company, so he didn't know all their problems. He did know some of them, though. "Most drivers have deadlines to meet and dispatchers pushing them.