found drama

We’re in a town to meet up with Adam and Sue. (The details of this trip are not apparent and probably no relevant.) The town is reminiscent of the ones that run up and down the highways of central Pennsylvania – – the towns for which terms like “rest stop” and “gas station” and “diner” are equivalent to “local economic backbone”. These are the towns known for lunch pit stops on long trips. A & I meet up with Adam & Sue in an otherwise deserted parking lot. The sky is gray – – not twilight but not quite overcast – – like the sky had gone to some atmospheric necropsy. We’re all hungry and we all agree to get eats. It’s lunchtime, right? Maybe early dinner. Sue suggests a place that is supposed to be a good local diner – – something other than a chainganged franchise. She doesn’t mention how she knows this place or where the tip came from. She didn’t grow up around here and it’s obvious that she has no known logical reason to make this suggestion. But we all take it on faith anyway, pile back into the cars, and go looking for this diner. Unfortunately, when we arrive, the address turns out to hold a motel – – there’s no diner in sight. Adam makes a remark about how now (all of the sudden) he remembers that the diner got shut down last year after a series of mass murders. (Or were they mass suicides?) And now a motel stands there? We check in. I help Sue with their bags and Adam does to bring in the dog (Sheena?) but notices a “No Pets” sign complete with dog silhouette red-encircled with the prohibitive slash. “Don’t you hate that?” he laughs. “Actually… No, I don’t.”

About Rob Friesel