The audio was so staticy it was a wonder the antique radio system actually got signal. A Bismarck talk show radio station was playing. The host was going on about the latest news around town and neighboring suburbs. "It really is amazing how much the tiny North Dakota capital has been expanding. In another year I'd say it will be more than three times it's size at the rate that sky scrapers have been going up," said the host.
"That's right Peter, and it's all thanks to the four funders, the many construction workers, and the revolutionary technology that is available to them," said another man.
"And now we'll be taking calls from any night owls listening out there about the latest news or gossip from their area," said Peter. Andrew heard a phone ring from the hissing speakers.
"Hi Peter, my name is Delilah and I'm calling from Mandan," said a woman.
"That's were you two are from," said Todd. How he knew. Andrew was shaking fearing what the woman would say.
"Delilah it's a pleasure to have you on the show," said Peter.
"Thank you."
"So what is it going to be news or gossip?"
"What's the difference? You can't trust neither of them to be truthful," joked the other man. Todd and Miranda laughed at that.
"Crazy Nick, I assure you the news I'm about to tell you is true and sad," said the woman.
"I'm sorry, let us hear what you have to say," said Crazy Nick in a serious tone. Ughh, ohh.
"About two hours ago I was washing the dishes when I heard this truck speeding down my street like the driver was drunk or something, and then there was this loud crashing sound. I was so frightened I dropped the dish I was scrubbing on the floor. I didn't even hear it break because the crash was so loud," Delilah said. It was all Andrew could do from screaming.
"Please continue, we won't interrupt until you finish ma’am," said Peter.
"Well me and my husband step out of the house to see if we can help the accident victims. When we got to the scene of the crash, which was all but three houses down the driver or drivers of the truck I had heard were long gone. So now it had become a hit and run incident. A couple of our neighbors were out of there cars to so I asked them if they had seen who was behind the crash while my husband called for an ambulance, and then the police. No one saw anything they were all inside when the whole thing happened."
Andrew took no comfort in that. What he was worried about was how the occupant or occupants of the car were. "Goodness Todd, you think a drunk driver was behind it?" Andrew wanted to become one with the smelly dust covered seat. I am filth.
"I can't imagine what else love. Lord, what has become of the peaceful town of Mandan?" Todd said. Andrew wondered the same thing. Could it be all the new families that had been moving in and bringing their kids along fault? Many of them had come from as far south as Texas, which recently had seen a dramatic increase in teen drinking.
"Delilah do you know of the state that the victims of the collision are?" said Peter. Andrew held his breath. His very nerves seemed to stop sending out signals to his vital organs to focus exclusively on what the woman would say. Sam pulled his head away from the window and craned his neck forward.
"There was only one person in the car, a woman," Delilah said, "And no, the paramedics would not comment on the matter. But from the way they looked at everybody I could tell they were hiding the answer from us of to spare us from having a sleepless night."
"My goodness, that poor girl needs our prayers," said Todd. Him and Miranda silently prayed. Andrew's parents were both dedicated Christians of a protestant denomination but he could care less. As far as he knew all he had to do was ask Jesus to save him and he'd be saved from sin his entire life. That seemed to be all there was to it. But did that include this? Leaving a person to die and then erasing himself and Sam from having anything to do with it?
"Delilah are you still there?" came Crazy Nick's voice.
"Yes, I'm still here but I'm afraid I have to hang up," she said. She sounded like she had come to some sort of life changing realization. Delilah were had I heard that name before? Was she the mom of one of his friends? He wasn't sure but for some reason it kept hearing it in the back of his mind in some distant memory.
"Goodnight Delilah," Peter said.
"You to," Delilah said before her line clicked off. Todd reached out his hand to turn the radio off.
"That's enough depressing talk for one night," he said. Andrew couldn't have agreed more. The name of Delilah continued to bother him. Maybe if I shut my eyes and think for a while. He was instantly transported to the realm of shut eye.
Andrew awoke with a heartbeat thumping inside his school and irritating his brain. His mouth tasted foul. His body was being shaken. He blinked his eyelids opened to the sight of red traffic lights outside the windshield. They had arrived in town. "Sleep well?" Miranda said.
"Yeah," Andrew said sounding terrible. His head still throbbed from the after effects of drinking.
"Sorry that you had to be wakened up so abruptly but I told Saul there to rouse you so you could tell my husband which way to your house."
"Don't worry about it." Andrew wasn't about to tell them were he really lived. He looked at Sam as the car was bathed in a green glow from the traffic lights and the car went forward. His friend wasn't smart enough to see that it would be better if these people didn't know where their homes really were.

"Me and Saul live right next door to each other so you won't have to do a lot of driving." Sam spun his head rapidly in his direction. He opened his lips as if about to object. Andrew shook a finger at him from behind Todd's seat. Sam gave him a thumbs up sign to show that he understood.

"I'm afraid my set of wheels doesn't have GPS so you should start pointing me out in the general direction to your homes," Todd said. Andrew quickly thought up a random location in-between his and Sam's house.