cial vehicles and crossed by the
traveling public shifting from one speed lane to another only at
sweeping crossovers.

The dispatcher picked up an electric pointer and aimed the light beam
at the map. Referring to his notes, he began to recite.

"Resurfacing crews working on 26-W blue at milestone Marker 185 to
Marker 187, estimated clearance 0300 hours Tuesday--Let's see, that's
tomorrow morning."

The two officers were writing the information down on their
trip-analysis sheets.

"Ohio State is playing Cal under the lights at Columbus tonight so you
can expect a traffic surge sometime shortly after 2300 hours but most
of it will stay in the green and white. Watch out for the drunks
though. They might filter out onto the blue or yellow.

"The crossover for NAT 163 has painting crews working. Might watch out
for any crud on the roadway. And they've got the entrance blocked
there so that all 163 exchange traffic is being rerouted to 164 west
of Chillicothe."

The dispatcher thumbed through his reference sheets. "That seems to be
about all. No, wait a minute. This is on your trick. The Army's got a
priority missile convoy moving out of the Aberdeen Proving Grounds
bound for the west coast tonight at 1800 hours. It will be moving at
green lane speeds so you might watch out for it. They'll have
thirty-four units in the convoy. And that is all. Oh, yes. Kelly's
already aboard. I guess you know about the weather."

Martin nodded. "Yup. We should be hitting light snows by 2300 hours
tonight in this area and it could be anything from snow to ice-rain
after that." He grinned at his younger partner. "The vacation is over,
sonny. Tonight we make a man out of you."

Ferguson grinned back. "Nuts to you, pop. I've got character witnesses
back in Edmonton who'll give you glowing testimonials about my
manhood."

"Testimonials aren't legal unless they're given by adults," Martin
retorted. "Come on, lover boy. Duty calls."

Clay carefully embraced his armload of bundles and the two officers
turned to leave. The dispatcher leaned across the counter.

"Oh, Ferguson, one thing I forgot. There's some light corrugations in
red lane just east of St. Louis. You might be careful with your
souffles in that area. Wouldn't want them to fall, you know."

Clay paused and started to turn back. The grinning dispatcher ducked
into the back office and slammed the door.

* * * * *

The wind had died down b