The sign said COUNTY LINE 12 MI. I remember because I said it out loud, the way you do when you are tired and the radio has given up.
Twelve miles later the sign said COUNTY LINE 12 MI.
I told myself I had misread it. I told myself the odometer was wrong, then that the road had doubled back, then, finally, the thing I actually believed: that I had fallen asleep at the wheel and dreamed the first sign.
The third time I saw it I stopped the car. I got out and put my hand on the reflective lettering. It was cold and real and slightly raised, and behind it the fields went on flat and black to a horizon with no lights in it at all.
I did not get back in for a while. When I did, I turned the car around.
The sign said COUNTY LINE 12 MI.