Car Dream #38

CAR DREAM #38
by Michael Kroetch

The relic truck came down our street once a week. My cousin was always first to hear the bells. He’d drop whatever he was doing, even if it was baseball, and run out onto the porch yelling, They’re here! They’re here! Usually their stuff was so holy we could hardly believe it: Parts of the Cross. Saints’ feet. Or fingers. Maybe even a hair shirt or two. My cousin preferred jawbones. He always made sure to ask if their were any jawbones in there. They were what he’d look at first. You’re not supposed to touch relics. They have signs all over saying so, but my cousin likes jawbones. He’d wait until the guys with cigars weren’t looking and then he’d reach out over the glass and go touch, touch, touch. He once got so into it that he picked one of them up, brought it down and rubbed himself until I had to look away.