The Straight And Narrow Road

Prior to the trip, Nebraska frightened us most.

The road looked so straight on the map, like a rigid line held fast by fate and concrete. We'd heard stories of the empty fields and empty skies in every direction. The kind of tedium that could endanger your soul. I should have suggested that we reconsider and chose another route, but I didn't want Jesse to know how scared I really was.

I wish we had never gone to that fortune teller. She had probably been a fraud, but the thought of being bored to death has haunted me ever since.

Lane Number Forty-Two

The Lucky 100 Bowling Plaza of Wahoo, Nebraska, always kept lane number forty-two cordoned off with a fancy red rope. On summer nights, the waiting room filled with families waiting to bowl, but lane number forty-two would always remain closed.

One particularly busy evening, Mickey Landsman was especially irked that he had to wait while there was a perfectly good lane not being used. But when he complained to the manager, he was informed that the lane was reserved for God.

As it turns out, when he has the free time, God visits the Lucky 100 to get in a few frames.