"Here is a handful of short stories, composed from my memories and from my imagination. They are recollections and they are fictions. That is to say, they are all fictions." Kerouac's novel and an unrequited love are the twin blades cutting the fabric of a young man's destiny. What if Big Bad John had been a railroad man? A hitchhiker should be careful before climbing in. Jason Puker is a force of nature, but only one person knows the secret of his obsession. Ben and Charlize buy a house, sight unseen, in the rural highlands of Mexico. A Zen trainee discovers that global warming may not be an accident. At a contentious public hearing a mayor may find it hard to achieve balance. Without a firm deadline, it's tough to get around to getting something done. Even if it's God's will.