New Book Alert: 50 States: A Collection of Short Stories by Richard R. Becker; The Entire United States Captured in One Anthology

 

New Book Alert: 50 States: A Collection of Short Stories by Richard R. Becker; The Entire United States Captured in One Anthology

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Every once in a while in social media groups or in articles, the question comes up: What book do you think best describes or exemplifies your entire country?

For nonfiction, my answer is easy: A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, an absorbing, provocative, and sometimes critical look at American history seen through the eyes of those who lived it. Many people whose voices had been silent in traditional accounts and were often marginalized: Native Americans, African Americans, immigrants, abolitionists, women, Mexican Americans,  laborers, antiwar activists, civil rights workers, feminists, and many other voices. They showed the struggles, the good and often the bad that this country lived through.

For fiction however, that answer is a lot harder. I can think of authors that represent their specific state. For example: Harper Lee for Alabama, John Steinbeck for California, Ernest Hemingway for Florida, L. Frank Baum for Kansas, Anne Rice for Louisiana, Stephen King for Maine, Mark Twain for Missouri, F. Scott Fitzgerald for New York, Toni Morrison for Ohio and so on. But to find one specific author to tell the entire United States in Fiction is one difficult task. How do you capture every state, every setting, every character and make them unique while still making them a part of the large tapestry of the United States? For fiction authors, that may not be easy and even impossible. Until now. 

Richard R. Becker took a very ambitious project writing fifty stories set in each state and revealing that state's individual character but making the stories a part of a whole anthology, just like each state is a part of the whole country. He accomplished this project rather well.

His stories reflect various characters going through various conflicts like divorce, death, unemployment, bad marriages, love, family struggles, poverty, violence, illness and many others. Each story is a fascinating character study of these diverse individuals. Becker also crosses genres playing with different conventions like romance, humor, drama, thriller, mystery, horror, and even a few contemporary fantasies to tell these distinct voices.

The best stories are:

"Broken People Idaho 2003"

This opening story sets the tone and an ongoing theme for the entire anthology: characters in an emotional crossroads or facing certain struggles and how they deal with those struggles. 

Jonathan Cole has been grieving for the death of his son, whom he accidentally ran over with a carbine harvester. His marriage has also ended. A woman coming to his farm to inform him of a traffic accident near his property is the last thing that he needs.

The woman's comment that there are broken people everywhere, injured by the accident, resonates throughout this story (and in many ways throughout the entire book).

Everyone is broken in some ways. Sometimes their injuries are more apparent, with bruises and injuries. Sometimes you can't always see the breaks because of emotional trauma, but you know that they are there. With that many broken people around, the best that anyone can do is to face them and see if you can help even in the smallest capacity.

"The Best Life Arkansas 2019"

This story reflects how modern technology allows us to communicate with people that we used to, restore old friendships, rekindle old love affairs, network opportunities, and catch up on old times. However, in our drive to communicate sometimes we miss the emotions that are connected within.

That is what happens with Mason. He used Facebook to look up old flames. Now he is interested in pursuing an affair with Carol, someone with whom he had a casual acquaintance with outside the Internet but on social media is engaging in a very passionate sexual affair.

Just as heated as the romance begins, it ends just as quickly. Carol cites reasons that Mason knows are wrong based on research. While ruminating on the difference between Carol's words and the information that he learned about her, he thinks that Carol is a different person.

What this story shows is how we never really know the people with whom we make contact, especially on social media. On social media, the user has complete control over their own image: how they look, what they say, and what they can post (provided that they follow the outlet's TOS of course). They can say a terrible vacation was wonderful with just a few photographs. They can show a photograph retouched with glamor and insist that they always look like that. They can also share stories about a deceased and missed friend or relative in the present tense keeping them alive, long after they are gone.

In this decision to keep the online fantasy alive, they lose the real person. That's the emotional connection that they really need.

"Shine On You Crazy Diamonds Michigan 1975"

This story has a definite eerie horror sensibility throughout the pages. 

The Narrator and his friends, David and  Yuri, visit the haunted house that was once inhabited by the Diamond Family, a family that came to a tragic violent end. The friends decide to perform an exorcism. Let's just say that things don't turn out well.

The creepy atmosphere is retained throughout the story. The Diamond Family house story is reminiscent of many real life haunted houses, the places where urban legends get bigger with each telling and kids dared their friends to go inside.

Later years, those houses became the subjects of unexplained phenomena documentaries, ghost walking tours, or haunted themed attractions. Every city and town has at least one. (St. Louis has the Lemp Brewery and House. Even closer to my home are the Morse Mill Hotel and various sites in nearby Blackwell, Missouri.)

However, this may not necessarily be a story of supernatural horror. This may actually be a story about a kid losing his grip on sanity and all his friends can do is hopelessly watch. As Yuri gets more involved with the exorcism, his personality becomes more unhinged and erratic. It's clear that this kid has bigger problems than an interest in ghosts.

One of the clues that shows Yuri is suffering from mental illness is the constant allusions to the rock group Pink Floyd, specifically their songs, "Shine On You, Crazy Diamond" and "Wish You Were Here." Those songs were composed as tributes to Floyd founding member, Syd Barrett, who had various psychological problems, possibly schizophrenia, and was eventually removed from the band. 

Like Barrett, Yuri may be in danger of withdrawing more and more from his friends into his own private and frightening world.

"Private Conversations Colorado 2020"

Similar to "Shine on You, Crazy Diamonds", this story also is very open about the subject of mental illness. However unlike its predecessor, "Private Conversations" does not carry any sense of supernatural horror or dark fantasy. It is a very real and very frightening short story of a man going through his day listening to the voices in his head.

The reality is what makes this story terrifying. The voices constantly taunt the Narrator feeding off his fears, insecurities, and darker urges. It's a constant fight as he struggles to silence them but ultimately gives in.

As with most stories that use the point of view of a mentally ill person, the trick is making them seem to be the normal one and everyone else is crazy. To him the voices are telling him to do something that is perfectly natural or reveal what to him is the truth. Sometimes, he steps back and disagrees, but the more they talk the more he wearily surrenders. He can no longer fight because they make sense to him.

"A Beautiful Day Pennsylvania 1990"

Sometimes the short stories reflect that state by referring to settings or events. Other times, they refer to important people that came from that state. "A Beautiful Day" does this by shouting out to Pennsylvania's native son, Mr. Fred Rogers.

In fact Mr. Roger's Neighborhood isn't the only children's show to get referenced in this story. There are also allusions to Sesame Street and The Electric Company. The references to children's shows, particularly Neighborhood, give a dramatic irony as the protagonist, Ellen, is patiently awaiting and accepting her impending death. 

Ellen is a woman who is ready to go. She already divided her possessions and made her arrangements. When she starts feeling the symptoms of a heart attack, she has to reassure the paramedic that she'll be fine. 

Her positive and hopeful outlook gives her a unique perspective. To everyone else, it's a loss or a race to save her life. To her, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood when she can recognize the kindness from others before she leaves this world.

"The Qallupilluk Alaska 1982"

Sometimes the state's setting is a virtue for the story. The Alaskan setting brings "The Qallupilluk" to life. The Reader gives an audible shiver at the description of frozen lakes and the creaking boats. It's no wonder fishers have to be hearty to eke out a living this way.

The setting also helps shape the characters. Timothy ran away to Alaska to become a salmon trawler. His companion, Kallik, suspects that he's running away from other things. He tells him a legend that is mostly a metaphor for Timothy's problems.

Timothy's character shows someone who is drawn to a so-called "simple life" that doesn't really exist. They want to run to this life that they think is different from theirs when all they are doing is running away.

"The Chain Iowa 2016"

"The Chain" is a fascinating character study of a housewife spending her whole life being accommodating until one day she decides not to be.

In some ways, it reminds me of Susan Glaspell's one act play "Trifles" in which two women investigate the house of a former friend and realized that her docility and passive nature hid an abusive marriage and a murderous desire to get out of it.

In "The Chain" a detective interviews Addie, a housewife, over the death of a young man who assaulted her daughter. Addie tells him of her childhood in which she never argued, always gave things to her younger siblings, and never lost her temper. This passive nature got her through an abusive childhood and a sometimes troubled marriage.

Addie is the type who lived a life of emotional avoidance, never expressing any outward negative emotions. She realizes the folly of living such a life when her daughter inherited those traits. The young woman gets raped and puts all the blame on herself. Addie decides to put the matter into her own hands.

"The Chain" shows how the emotions that Addie kept bottled up ended up being a detriment. She avoided her own emotions until they could no longer hide. In finally acting on her anger, Addie breaks that chain of passivity that accepted and never spoke out against. She finally broke the chains that trapped her and her daughter. They have been released.

"Leftovers Wyoming 2020"

This story shows a similar situation in "The Chain" of a woman facing an abusive past and how she deals with it in the present. Unlike Addie, Rachel isn't passive. She has worked at her family's ranch since the death of her parents during 9/11. Now that her grandfather has died, she has come to terms with her conflicted feelings for him.

Rachel can't find it in her to mourn for him. When she was 13, her grandfather molested her. Even when she told her Grandmother, the older woman dismissed it saying that it happened only one time. However, Rachel cattily explains "Maybe, I remember the one day so I don't remember all the days like that day." The molestation occurred not once but several times and Grandma kept making excuses like "the wars affected him."

 Rachel, finding no support from her grandmother and buried anger towards her grandfather, withdraws further into herself. Now she can't find anything resembling grief or even relief that he's gone. 

This story presents a sad reality. While the common wisdom is to never speak ill of the dead, sometimes you have to. Hiding behind the veneer of respectability only lets them get away with what they shouldn't. The living who suffered by their actions are left traumatized and may recover by revealing the truth and trying to live their lives without them.

"Vertigo New Mexico 1955"

Some of these stories aren't very long. They are flash fiction, only a few sentences. Those sentences are meant to capture a mood very quickly. Of those flash fiction stories, "Vertigo" is the best one.

A man is standing on a ledge ready to jump. That's it. We don't know who he is, what caused his despondency, or who he is leaving behind if anyone. We only get a moment in this poor man's life. 

In a way, this story reflects the mindset of one who is suicidal. Sometimes that thought only takes a moment. They are standing on that ledge no longer thinking of the reasons not to. Those reasons are not as important as the pain that they hope will end. The ledge almost welcomes them as they take that final plunge.

"The Domino Missouri 1962"

Of course I have to choose my home state's story. Not that it portrays it in a good light. But it is an important light that should be discussed and acknowledged so that it can never happen again.

After a protest, store owner Nehemiah Benayoun warns the family of his employee, Duane Booker, that the sheriff is coming to evict the entire shanty town, using the protest as an excuse to do so.

When a group of horsemen ride up and violently attack the Bookers and the people around them, it's clear that they have more than "keeping the peace" in mind. They are using the protest as a means to justify their racist hatred of an African American family and their Jewish friend. 

One of the sons Elijah observes, "(The riders) are not even hiding their faces." The riders see no reason to disguise their hatred behind hoods. It's right out in the open. The Bookers and Nehemiah see the prejudice that fuels these riders to attack an African American family just for living is the same prejudice that put a number tattoo on Nehemiah's arm and forced him to leave his own country.

"The Interview New York 2017"

Job interviews can be stressful. It's a lot of work to research the business, learn how to speak properly and ask the right questions, and make sure their movements don't betray their nervousness. It's also stressful for the one giving the interview to ask the same questions and read each potential's face and body language, then check references to see if they are a good fit. Sometimes a potential employee could make it by that much and just miss it without ever really knowing the reason why.

Sometimes interviewers have clever, more unique ways of gauging an interviewee's real personality. That is what happens when William is being interviewed by Cynthia Rothman of the law firm, Martin & Morgan. The interview is set during lunch at a West Village gastropub. Relax, Cynthia says, it doesn't matter what he orders or says to the servers. All that matters is how he answers questions. 

What doesn't occur to William is that he is being monitored and his very behavior in social situations is what is being observed.

William's behavior shows that when being interviewed, a person is on from the moment that they arrive. William is able to be himself and he realizes what himself is: a temperamental jerk. For those who are in the service industry, it's no doubt a cathartic experience to read about such an entitled fool getting dressed down by the representative from his first choice law firm.

"The Engagement New Jersey 1981"

Like I said some of these stories contain a bit of contemporary fantasy. This is one of them.

The Narrator is ready to propose to his girlfriend, Katie. He is as nervous and excited as he could be. He made reservations at a nice restaurant and he has the ring. He is ready.

Two days before the upcoming proposal, The Narrator goes to visit a fortune teller. Using a deck of Tarot cards, the fortune teller reveals some very bad news. This bad news is confirmed by Katie and causes them to doubt their future.

While subtle, the images on the cards reflect the Narrator's outlook especially after Katie tells him her news. He realizes that their future is preordained and nothing can change that. He knows that whatever their future holds, he is ready to hold onto whatever happiness there is no matter how brief that it might be.

"Papa Ghede Louisiana 2014"

This is another contemporary fantasy and where else would it be set but in Scare Central, the place where vampires, ghosts, and voodoo are about as present as tourists during Mardi Gras. Where else but Louisiana.

A woman seeks to rid herself of her abusive husband by any means necessary. Those means include voodoo. As she continues to cast the spell, her husband taunts her saying it doesn't work. He fails to account that she has one final trick to play.

The supernatural themes that are so prominent in Louisiana are in full display in this story. While voodoo is often portrayed in movies as something sinister and scary, in Louisiana there's a strong community involvement in the practice. 

Many voodoo practitioners help people get through difficult times in their lives, like giving them the ability to stand up to domestic abuse. 

That's what's in play here. The woman is getting assistance from her voodoo community to end her problem. 

"As It Seems Kansas 1971"

Again this story pays tribute to a famous local. I'll give you a hint. There's a tornado and a black Cairn terrier by the name of Toto.

Unfortunately, this protagonist, Rose (not Dorothy) is hardly in a magical land over the rainbow. Instead she is inside a storm shelter with her parents and a family that got stuck on the road during the storm. Unfortunately, the close confines get more and more constricting as the father of the visiting family, Walter Loman, becomes more and more unhinged.

 Loman becomes irritated with Toto's barking and Sally's watering eyes (she's allergic to dogs), and the claustrophobia. The final straw occurs when Percy, an African American friend of Rose's family, seeks shelter from the storm. Walter pulls out a gun, his paranoia in full display.

It doesn't take long for Rose to realize that there is more than one storm going on and the one in front of her is far worse than the one outside. At least that storm outside will pass. Buildings can be repaired. A tornado can fade into a story. 

The storm of a person's hatred and fear, especially when they do violent things as a result, can never be repaired. That kind of storm will never end.

"A Hole in the Wall Hawaii 2020"

Naturally, a story set in 2020 would tackle Covid. This story shows how friendship and relationships evolve during a time when social contact is severely limited.

Kalena and Kekoa, a young girl and boy, meet each other during the early days of the pandemic. Despite them being masked and having to maintain social distance, they hang out together, bond, and even start to fall in love. All of this without seeing each other's faces.

This story shows that even in some of the most stressful times, people will find ways to adjust and change their lives around. It also shows that human contact can still be found and is definitely worth trying for.

"Where's There's Smoke Oregon 2019"

Similar to "As It Seems" this story uses a natural disaster as a metaphor for human mistrust and hatred.

Jeremy and his family are evacuating their home during a large brushfire. On their way to safety, they nearly get into an accident with a car that's headed in the direction of their house. Why are they headed for their house during an evacuation and with smoke and flames visible on the horizon no less? Jeremy doesn't know but he has some idea and a gun in his hand.

The descriptions of the fire are harrowing as is the panic in evacuating such a disaster. The argument that Jeremy has with his wife Stephanie about bringing his grandfather's flute is very real. ("He carved it by hand during the war.") It's typical of people whose lives are about to be destroyed and the grief when losing things that are important to them. Yes they are just "things," but they are also history and are connected to the people who had them.

The other thing this story shows is the metaphor between a natural and human disaster. Jeremy goes to attack these people who he suspects are up to no good. They are barely able to give an explanation before he uses his gun. He gives into his rage and suspicions and destroys lives just as quickly as the fire destroys the life around it. The fires of nature can be quenched but sometimes the fires of human hatred are not so easy to put out.

"All Your Joys Massachusetts 2019"

 Massachusetts is known for the Salem Witch Trials among other things. So of course the story covers that infamous time and the town's transformation into half tourist trap and half welcome to modern witches. However, with the transition of accepting them, there is still the paranoiac fear of witches doing harm.

Kam certainly believes this. He, his mother and sister moved to Salem after his father walked out on them. He believes that his neighbor is a witch. She has an evil eye decoration on her door and says that she is watching him. However, she also implies that she has a video camera and knows that he tried to break into her house before. Is she watching him electronically or by other more supernatural means? Is she putting a curse on him?

Kam is a kid filled with plenty of angst. He hates his father for leaving them for a younger woman. He hates the move to this strange new place where people sell items like T Shirts that say "I got stoned at Salem." His mother is constantly angry with him. She takes much of her rage out on him such as when his pit bull, Jambar accidentally bites his sister. 

Kam is sitting on a keg and ready to light it. Like many people who are angry, for example his own mother, Kam needs to find a way to articulate his rage. An easy target to take his anger out on. The easiest target of course is the source of his fear, the witch next door. We are not only looking at an angst ridden teen prepared to enter a life of crime. We are not only looking at someone with Wiccaphobia (an intense fear of witches.) We are looking at the mind of a potential future witch hunter. Someone filled with rage and fear and justifies his attacks on someone innocent by believing that they are the ones who are guilty. Not himself.

"Four Fathers Georgia 1968"

One thing that Becker pulls off expertly are these moments between characters. Not much happens in the stories but the conversations reveal much about their character.

Rosalee travels to Macon, Georgia to visit her estranged father. He tells her about his life as a war veteran, his relationship with her mother, and his complicated family life. He does this not to excuse his absence in her life but to explain where he came from so she can have some knowledge of her father and learn where she came from.

The conversation is moving. Rosalee's father is a wonderful storyteller filling his life with details of heroism and regret. He lived an interesting life but missed out on a family. The only thing that he can give his daughter are stories and memories and the hope that she will remember him that way.

"The Samaritan Indiana 2016"

This story reflects a fear that many women have to go through, being sexually assaulted.

Janice nearly avoids being assaulted by a stranger. When the man pursues her, she is helped by a man named Eric. Unfortunately, Janice finds herself in an even worse situation.

At first, Janice is caught in a very obvious situation. The first man is almost a stereotype in how he pursues her. He is the type of person that someone would point to and say it's her fault for catching his attention, so it's her fault that she would be attacked.

The Erics are a lot harder to spot and that makes them more dangerous. They pretend to be friendly and helpful. They avoid those warning signs because they know how to. They have heard all the words and know to behave contrary to them. They can bypass suspicion

 Then believe that the women owe them something for their intervention.

They may even be the first to blame, pointing the finger at what the victim did to "entice" their attacker, while they are guilty of committing the action themselves.

Their behavior makes it harder to separate friend from foe, enemy from hero, attacker from rescuer. 

"Into the Bardo Rhode Island 2017"

This is another story where the setting of the state just grabs the Reader and pulls them in. In this case literally.

Logan is a young man who may be the only survivor in a boating accident. Officer Hector Almada tries to question the young man who is in shock and denial for what happened and is very worried about his uncle, cousin, and friend who are still unaccounted for.

The rough seas come to life as does the little boat rocking back and forth trying to stay afloat. The crew's struggles to steer to safety are suspenseful. It's a very tense situation in which a relaxing peaceful sea voyage can turn into a nightmare and fight to stay alive.

Logan is also well written. He wants to believe the others are still alive. He doesn't want to think that his uncle did anything wrong. He grows more hysterical and desperate, wanting to hold onto what he knows can't be true. He is trying to come to terms with his survival and his loss.

"The Catch Texas 1957"

It would make more sense for a story about the circus to be set in Florida. Sarasota is the winter home of Ringling Bros., Barnum, and Bailey Circus. Gibsonton was where many of the entertainers lived, including those with physical abnormalities and who worked in the sideshows.

Oh well, it's set in Texas. But it's still a good story that captures the weird strangeness and childlike wonder that the circus once possessed and how it often drew people in who wanted to "run away and join the circus."

Jimmy is a young boy who is so enchanted by his visit to the circus, Die Wunder Der Welt (The Wonders of the World). He wants to do anything,such as feeding the animals. The entertainers such as Ivan the Giant, Ingrid the Bareback Rider, and others mock him but are generous to show him around and give him a chance. As Jimmy explores this strange intoxicating world, he sees some bizarre things that also draw him inside.

Becker describes the nostalgia of the old circus very well. Probably like some of the Readers of this anthology, I'm not old enough to remember when the majority of circuses travelled by train and entertained in tents. I've been to five circuses in my 45 years and they have all been in convention centers. So this story captures a time that is mostly accessed through film, television, books, and memories of members of the Boomer, Greatest, and Silent generations. It's almost magical and enchanting in how it captures the circus and its colorful inhabitants. Who wouldn't want to join?

There's also a subtext of lost innocence that a popular culture touchstone is coming to an end. It's not a coincidence that the story is set in 1957. Jimmy even remarks about it. Television is the new medium. People don't know why they should go to see an entertainment when they could see it at home. Of course, this outlook continues.

 It subtly pokes holes in the belief that this is a new attitude with people addicted to social media and their handheld devices. It's clear that this has been an ongoing thing and the people who point their fingers at what kids are missing out on conveniently forget that they did a lot of watching and a lot of missing out on life. as well.

"All The Wild Horses North Dakota 2019"

Some stories have a deep connection to nature and this one definitely has the strongest. It reveals a beautiful landscape and wild horses being rounded up. It's a land in which resources are being drained and destroyed along with the animals and people that live within it.

One of the people trying to save the Nokota wild horses is Andrea "Andy" Canton. Even though she is a teenager she already has a reputation of taking the horses to reservation land far from the jurisdiction of the BLM (Bureau of Land Management, not well…someone else). Despite verbal warning and threats, she continues to act.

Andy is a character who stands for her ideals with a lot of strength and compassion for the horses in her care. She gets into a conversation with a man who despite being Native American made a choice to compromise and live with the white establishment. He did it for survival and to gain money. He made a choice.

Andy hears his story and understands and sees his point, conceding that yes it is a changing world. He could speak for himself and so could she. They could make choices on what to do with their lives. The horses never could beyond remaining wild or conceded to domesticity. No one could speak and fight for them. Andy makes the choice to continue fighting for them. 

"Top Rung South Carolina 2013"

This story is a brilliant character study with a twist ending that would make Rod Serling proud.

Kayla goes out for a morning jog. While she runs, her mind wanders to the troubles in her life. She recently moved to a new suburban home and has a decent job as a pharmaceutical lab technician. However, she wants respect for her mind and not to be overlooked because of her body. She is surrounded by workplace sexism and is aware that body objectification is all around her.

She has seen such objectification ruin her sister, Naomi. She is now pregnant and has been abandoned by her boyfriend. Her parents are looking after Naomi and Kayla knows that they will end up doing the lion's share of the work. As for Kayla, well she loves her sister but she has her own issues to deal with.

Kayla is one of those "good kids all grown up." She made the choices in which everyone approved: went to college, got a good job, and bought a house. On the one hand, she is incredibly unsympathetic by diminishing her sister's problems. However, she is also understandable as someone who believes that they paid their dues and should be happy but somehow aren't. She is wondering about her life when she still has to struggle to be accepted. Is this all there is?

All of these questions come to a screeching halt. I won't say more except it involves a Nissan Sentra, some creepy dogs, and an even creepier guy named Sharren. It will interest people who can read into the real meaning and realize what is actually going on. This ending comes out of nowhere but is kind of the point. Some things change and some questions about respect, family, and self actualization are thrown away without being answered. 

"The Right Choice Nebraska 2010"

I'm always open to any story set primarily in a bookstore where the characters talk about reading. Luckily, Becker gave me one. However, the discussion about books becomes even deeper when discussions about fantasy and reality are raised.

Harry, his daughter Rebecca, and son Peter are in a bookstore. Cantankerous Harry reveals that he doesn't like to read books. He considers them too much of an escape from reality, so he prefers to live in the real world. He cites books where a person does something heroic. It's not that simple, he says.

Rebecca however has a more romantic disposition. She enjoys the escape that reading provides. Nurtured by her desire for fantasy, escape, and heroism says that she knows heroism in her life. Her father, for instance, once saved a kid from drowning. She sees an act of courage and self sacrifice.

Her father however reveals that the heroism isn't the end of the story. The kid that he saved later cold bloodedly murdered someone and ended up in prison. He can only see the tragic dark ending. Why escape such a horrific event when it still exists after the book is closed, he wonders? It's still there in his mind.

This story never pushes one side over the other. Instead, it shows that sometimes people have different views that can't always be compromised. Some see romance. Others see reality.

"Wheels Go Round Tennessee 1977"

I suppose it's full circle that this story covers a vehicle just like the first, "Broken People." However, the previous one dealt with a wreck and the idea that people were broken and restrained. This story explores the constant movement of traveling by bus and the freedom that such travel contains. Instead of being restrained, the riders are released.

A young boy and girl are talking at a bus stop. The girl talks about the people that she observes like she thinks that a homeless man is a Vietnam vet returning home. With the boy, she sees someone who hasn't been loved.

She's right. He's leaving a foster family that treats him like a third wheel. The girl senses that he isn't running away but towards something. Unlike her who has nowhere to go, she likes that idea and decides to go with him.

In the first story, people were broken. Their souls and bodies were laid out and unable to move. They needed to be carried away. Here, the characters are still broken on the inside. However, instead of being carried away, they decide to walk away to a new life.