once we got on the road and had been driving for a while , i could n't stand the silence . after a minute or so , he lowered his hands and slowly opened his eyes . what if he came back with bad news ? then he recalled that she spent half her time as an instructor . he 's not going to respond in a reasonable way . `` and what if that 's what they want ? '' he had never been able to afford it . time to get ready for a days full of work . 