R.E.M.

      Drumming the steering wheel and belting out, "That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane, Lenny Bruce is not afraid. Eye of hurricane, listen...churn...world....needs...nanana...na..na." He trailed off as most people do to that song and just started bobbing his head. Reaching up he adjusted his rearview.

       "Damn dude, turn off your brights," he said aloud.

      The night had a chill in the air so he had his windows down but his heat on to equalize the temperature. The moist air smelled of marshland reminding him of chasing fiddler crabs when he was a kid and getting covered in mud in the flats of Brunswick, Georgia.  'Bright Lights', as he had dubbed the car, pulled up next to him and he glanced into the darkened vehicle. The passenger window had a faded yellow and pink flowered pillowcase pressed up against it. He assumed there was a head on the other side squishing it flat, but couldn't be sure. His glance into the back seat caught him by surprise, what initially looked like a glowing blue skull staring back at him was transformed into a pre-teen boys face illuminated from underneath by some type of tablet, an iPad probably since the crossover type vehicle was a Mercedes Benz. One day Willie, he thought, one day you'll pull up to the house in one of those and Janice will shit herself with excitement.

      "And then she'll tell you to take it right back to the dealership," he whispered to himself as the Mercedez sped off into the darkness. Willie watched as the red taillights became specks and all that was visible were his cones of light illuminating the highway. He put his left arm out the window and opened his palm to the air and his arm rocketed back and straight up. He did this a few times and felt his eyelids stay closed a little too long when he blinked.

      "Damn dude, turn off your brights," he said aloud.

      The car zipped up beside him and he saw a flowered pillow, and a skull. A blue face with a big smile streaked passed him. He tried to accelerate to be certain of what he saw but his 1980's diesel Volvo of the box variety did not have its get up and go anymore. He sat back beating on the steering wheel to R.E.M.'s album Document of the same decade as his Volvo, holding his drums to match the stretched and worn out tape from which it played. He took his swimming goggles down that swung back and forth from his rearview and suctioned them to his face, with the strap digging into his scalp. Once secure he stuck his head out the window and howled with the wind, letting it fill his cheeks. As he did so some of his saliva was whipped from his mouth and slid down the side of the car leaving a streak among streaks from his previous howls at the moon. Pulling his head in he gave a gaping yawn and was disappointed the rushing wind didn't do its usual job of jolting him awake, for a little while at least. He hung up his goggles and blinked, a little to long again, as he reached to adjust the volume of the radio, and was dreadful when he realized his mind had missed two songs on the album. Had he dozed or had he become hypnotized by the reflective dashed lines pulsing to the beat. There had been many times while he was driving this stretch that his brain shut off and he awoke wondering how he had arrived at point C when he only remembered being at point A, but he felt he actually fell asleep this time. This stretch of highway 17 was nothing more that two lanes carved out of woods and marshland without even the faintest of shoulders. Pulling off the road would mean one of two things, getting stuck in the mud or careened off the road by a passing semi doing well over the speed limit. That thought woke him up a bit, but he struggled, and his eyes got heavy again.
      "Damn dude, turn off your brights," he said aloud.

    The lights had blinded him this time, they were so bright they seemed to eminate from the rear view mirror. The light filtered red and he realized his eyes were shut. He forced them open and to his horror two sucken eyes encased in blue were staring back at him. He screamed as the blue skull's jaw opened to speak, the light went from bright white to grey to black.

      He awoke to Janice holding his hand asleep in the bed next to him wondering how he got home, if he was home, or if he was still asleep, driving.

---What's funny is not until I had read it a few times checking for typos did I see the connection between sleep and the band---ha!