Eli had no answer to that. The rain had stopped twenty minutes earlier, but the temperature was dropping fast, and the man’s coat was completely soaked.
“Do you live close?” Eli asked.
“Two miles east.”
“I can take you.”
The old man glanced at the idling motorcycle. “At my age, climbing onto the back of a stranger’s motorcycle sounds less like transportation and more like a hospital appointment.”
Despite the tension, Eli almost smiled. “I can call someone for you.”
“My phone is in what used to be the grocery bag.”
They dug through the muddy debris and found the phone beneath a crushed box of crackers. The screen was spiderwebbed with cracks, and water had seeped behind the glass. It was completely dead.
“I’ll replace the groceries,” Eli insisted.
“You don’t have to.”