I was driving down the freeway. Steve was sitting wingman in the passenger seat, drinking from a plastic bottle.

He finished the bottle and threw it out the window.

“Dude!” I said, “Fingerprints!”

“Naw,” he said dismissively.

Suddenly a big dark machine like from a science fiction movie pulled up beside me and matched my speed.

“Pull over!” said a voice from the radio in my car.

I turned the radio off.

“Pull over!” said the speakers in the car.

I kept driving.

A big mechanical arm reached over the car, opened Steve’s door, and threw him out onto the shoulder of the road.

I pulled over and stopped the car.

Very carefully I opened my door and got out when it was safe and the coast was clear.

I went around the car and saw Steve lying back there.

The big machine was nowhere in sight.

Then somehow Steve was right here lying by my car. So was the empty bottle.

“Pick it up!” said the voice from the car.

Steve sat up half way, groggy, and picked up the bottle.

I looked around.

“Where are you?” I asked the empty air.

“I am everywhere.”

“Who are you? What are you?”

“I am as you made me, to keep you from doing wrong.”

“Whatever,” I said, and helped Steve back into the car, holding the bottle.

I eased back out onto the road into traffic and we reached our destination.

We exited the car.

Very carefully, Steve threw the empty bottle into the trash, checking twice to be sure he got it in the right slot.