The man drove without the radio. Years up in space will do that to ya. Or at least did to him. Enjoyed the silence. Not really silent since the car made noise. The engine's hum. The tires on the asphalt. But no music needed.

It was his day off. He liked to take drives along the coast. Sometimes he'd park and walk up to the water. Put his feet into it. Think "on the other side there's a kid in Japan with his feet in the same water."

He thought of space a lot while driving. It'd been a while since he'd been up there. Soon after he returned the program had been discontinued. The Blue Group had kept it quiet. Reached out to former 

Spacecity

employees and made them sign NDAs. Gave them a big check if they did. Keith had refused.

"What do you mean no?"

"I won't sign."

"But it's a boat load of money. don't you want it?!"

"Not about the money. Just don't like the idea of signing away so much of my life."

"But you're not signing away your life. You're already back here now!"

"Well I don't like the idea of not being able to talk about a large part of my life. What if I want to tell someone."

He never did get to talk to anyone really about it. Regular people didn't care. And the journalists seemed to avoid the issue. Too afraid. Keith feared that he might get whacked one day, but they hadn't done it yet.

So he should've probably just taken the money. Everyone else was probably sitting pretty on that cash. Marianna wherever she was. Cal. Him too. Keith, he still worked. And drove an old beater.

But today. He had the day off. So he was driving. In the middle of the day he had a craving for 

ice cream

. Saw a 

McDonalds

off the side of the road with old school architecture. It made him think of a simpler time. He shrugged and turned in. He could use a 

McFlurry

.