After leaving the shipper, Fresh House Fruits, Andrew steered the truck westbound on the highways of central Louisiana, which was surrounded by thick, murky swamps and all the little murky creatures that live within them. Andrew didn't get to stop and gawk at all the wildlife lurking in those swamps but he does get to see all the big, juicy bugs that came out of them just to throw themselves into the windshield, splattering their guts and juices all over the whole goddamn front end of the truck. Jay, who sat in the passenger seat, knew they were entering deep in Louisiana wetlands by the thick haze that occurred a few miles back. This dark haze was of course just thousands of dirty ass bugs floating around looking for some kind of food or flesh to suck on.
The drive from the shipper, which ended up being back in Tampa, Florida, nearly 900 miles ago, went smoothly and Jay slept through most of it, including the pick up process. The drive was nice, quiet, and the air was still humid as shit despite it being winter. Jay finally decided to break the peaceful silence with his loud booming voice that nearly startled scrawny Andrew right out of his skinny ass skin. He was, of course, lost in a daydreaming episode.
"So when they loaded ya, did you secure that shit with load locks?" Jay asks, thumbing a page of his book.
"Didn't have to, it was a drop and…hook! Aw shit!" Andrew groans and sighs.
"What?"
"I think I forgot to pick up the load." Andrew says stiffly.
"What do you mean you didn't pick up the darned load?" Jay says in disbelief, "You went to the shipper right?"
"Yeah, I ran inside, checked in, got the paperwork, they gave me the number of the loaded trailer to pick up in the yard, then, instead of dropping our empty and swapping it for the loaded, I just left. You said we were on a tight schedule for this load so I guess I just…"
"So we're almost to the delivery and you never picked up the load!?" Jay booms, slamming his book closed.
"You probably think I'm a huge idiot-"
"Oh yeah! How the hell do you forget to pick up the load?! And then not even remember until-"
"Jay! I'm just fuckin' around!" Andrew laughs, "I got the load."
Jay stared at Andrew with his mouth hanging slightly agape, having fell for the little fella's stupid little prank. Andrew continued to laugh.
"You really thought I forgot to pick up the loaded trailer?" Andrew laughs some more.
"Well, it's been done before." Jay says, opening his book back up, "I've seen it happen more times than I can believe it."
Jay notices that they were nearing a slope up ahead and realizes that he never once mentioned the jake brake to Andrew and has yet to hear him use it either. For those who don't know, a jake brake is a alternate term for an engine brake which is a louder alternative to using regular wheel brakes. It is meant to help truckers save their regular brakes when descending down long, steep hills.
"You know how to use that jake brake, right?" Jay asks.
"Uh, I think so…" Andrew looked around the steering wheel for the so called "jake brake" that was mentioned in trucking school but has since disappeared in his vast knowledge of operating a truck, probably drowned out by all the DOT regulations and pre-trip that was drilled into his head.
"When you git to the top of that slope, just before you start descending, flip that bitch all the way down." Jay says.
Once the truck was at the top of the slope, Andrew flips the jake brake down just as Jay said and with with a loud roar from the engine, the truck descends the hill at a reasonable speed. However, remember when I mentioned that they were in a swamp land with all kinds of swampy creatures lurking about? The loud noise coming from their truck was sure to disturb the peace, and disturb the peace it did as somewhere, deep in the jungle swamp, a creature's slumber had been disturbed, and awoken with an angry growl he did…