The Title Explained

I guess the first thing you need to know about is the title. Three basic words, we . . . picked . . . up. It’s an actual sentence, noun-verb-predicate, coming on Day 33 when the guys are in North Las Vegas, Nevada, heading back. It’s when the thick air between Roger and Otto finally clears (after several days of brutal mudslinging). Instead of splitting up, they put aside their accumulated fury and continue on—not in seamless unison as when they started out, but as wiser, seasoned independents. I wrote the sentence long before I realized that should be the title. It was kind of always in the text, waiting to be discovered. How many ways those words can be taken! Let me count a few: The boys “pick up” (gather) their courage during their adventure. A wide swath of generous people “pick up” the boys. Roger and Otto “pick up” valuable lessons and wisdom. Readers are encouraged to “pick up” whatever desires in their own lives might lie hidden and unfinished. Society as a whole “picks up” (improves) after being part of the connected network that lifts up what is good and positive. I consider that three-word sentence on page 297 as the “first climax.” The mounting tension between the characters finally breaks. A ray of light breaks through. They regain trust in each other, and their own sanity.