1. Sarah and Unmesh were driving through the roughest area of the suburb called Maxwell Boulevard. A number of rusty petrol barrels were lit with fire bonds and tramps were close to them as if trying to get warmer in the chilly evening breeze of that early summer. In the meantime a bat or two flew around the street lamp in mechanical circles.

2. Sara was waiting for Unmesh to say something. So was he. While having that sickly pudding they had been bitterly quarrelling over something like two neighbours quarrelling over the use of a common back yard; like two strangers. Every one of them was only able to see his own point of view.

3. All of a sudden they saw a man lying flat in the middle of the road. The sight of that body (a dead one?) dragged them out of their own thoughts. She felt suspicious and so did he. They discussed whether to stop the car to help him or not. He put his left hand on her knee but she turned a blind eye to his gesture. When they got close to the body, which was perfectly still, the car swerved to the right so as not to crush the man's feet and then drove on very slowly. They had a strange feeling: they were partly scared but they also had a twinge of remorse.
Then it was over. The car was already far past the body. They were again just the two of them face to face or, rather, side to side.

4. All of a sudden a small dark car drove off a side alley and Sarah saw it through the mirror. She thought that he had come too close for this to be a mere coincidence. Right then, the vehicle speeded up and naturally, so did Sarah. The two cars started a rat race and out of the corner of his eye Unmesh saw the dead man stand on his feet and hastily get on a second car. The next 5 minutes seemed to last forever.

5. Suddenly, Sarah saw the flashing neon sign of a 24-hour gas station. She went in at high speed. The two cars behind drove on and then went past the station. She braked in urgency and the car stopped.
Their knees started to tremble and they shivered at the thought of what might have happened.