Road Stories
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University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2015 Road Stories Louis Mindar University of Central Florida Part of the Creative Writing Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Mindar, Louis, "Road Stories" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 1288. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/1288 ROAD STORIES by LOUIS MINDAR III B.S. Western Illinois University, 1983 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2015 © 2015 Louis Mindar III ii ABSTRACT Road Stories is a collection of three novellas that explore the pull, allure, sanctuary, serendipity, and adventure of life on the open road. The novellas examine how for some, the road holds the promise of a new day, an improved life, a better opportunity, or a deeper love; while for others, it is nothing more than an assortment of jumbled blue lines on a map. In Tierra del Fuego, a man takes to the road to figure out how to deal with the grief and sense of betrayal he feels following the death of his wife. Lake of the Falls involves a decades-long dispute between a father and son who take to the road and come to realize that home is not always where you live. In Back on the Road, three recent college graduates set off on a road trip inspired by Kerouac’s On the Road to celebrate the end of their college years and lament the imminent approach of adulthood, only to learn that their lives are soon going to take vastly different paths. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In addition to his thesis committee, the author wishes to thank and acknowledge proofreaders Clay Snellgrove, Cathleen Reid and Andrea Smith Schwebke, sounding board and classmate Nick Rupert, and formatting genius Sean Ironman. This thesis and the associated degree would not have been possible without the love, support, and patience of the author’s children, Shelby Mindar and Louis Mindar IV. They have his undying love and gratitude, now and forever. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS TIERRA DEL FUEGO ............................................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................................................................................ 2 CHAPTER 2 ............................................................................................................................................................ 5 CHAPTER 3 ............................................................................................................................................................ 8 CHAPTER 4 .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 5 .......................................................................................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 6 .......................................................................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER 7 .......................................................................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER 8 .......................................................................................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER 9 .......................................................................................................................................................... 60 CHAPTER 10 ....................................................................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 11 ....................................................................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER 12 ....................................................................................................................................................... 77 LAKE OF THE FALLS ......................................................................................................................................... 82 BACK ON THE ROAD ....................................................................................................................................... 142 CHAPTER 1 ....................................................................................................................................................... 143 CHAPTER 2 ....................................................................................................................................................... 145 CHAPTER 3 ....................................................................................................................................................... 148 CHAPTER 4 ....................................................................................................................................................... 157 CHAPTER 5 ....................................................................................................................................................... 162 CHAPTER 6 ....................................................................................................................................................... 168 CHAPTER 7 ....................................................................................................................................................... 180 v CHAPTER 8 ....................................................................................................................................................... 200 CHAPTER 9 ....................................................................................................................................................... 204 CHAPTER 10 .................................................................................................................................................... 207 CHAPTER 11 .................................................................................................................................................... 212 CHAPTER 12 .................................................................................................................................................... 221 APPENDIX: READING LIST ........................................................................................................................... 228 vi TIERRA DEL FUEGO A novella 1 CHAPTER 1 Light rain dappled the windshield as we made our way through the early morning darkness. Our small car climbed steep, muddy roads up the mountain toward the ferry we hoped would be waiting for us. Sebastian was behind the wheel, awake and alert. I was crumpled in the passenger seat, trying to sleep but failing. The jostling and jarring from the car hitting puddled ruts in the road kept me awake. We’d left Sebastian’s farm, Finca Fin del Mundo, at four o’clock that morning. The farm sat in the hills several miles north of Ushuaia, the capital city of the province of Tierra del Fuego and the southernmost city in Argentina. It was April in Tierra del Fuego, autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. The weather was cold and rainy, the air smelling of earthy decay. Sebastian had both hands on the wheel, his sad, smiling eyes fixed on the narrow road ahead. I marveled to think that a month earlier I hadn’t even known him. We had met as strangers, pushed together by circumstances, and we were about to part as friends, knowing that we were unlikely to ever see each other again. His finca had been a safe, albeit unlikely, landing spot for me, and I hated to leave. The thought of simply staying had crossed my mind several times, but I knew I had to go. Sebastian’s little Renault struggled to gain traction going up the muddy mountain road. Several times he had to shift to a lower gear to keep moving forward. The French-made car was small but never faltered, and a little over an hour after we began our journey, we descended the other side of the mountain on our way toward Rio Grande. 2 The rain fell harder on the way down the mountain and the muddy road became slicker and more treacherous. I was nervous, but Sebastian handled the tricky road with the ease of a seasoned veteran. He was calm, having grown up in these conditions and was used to driving in them. I was sweating it. The sun climbed in the eastern sky as we made our way down the mountain and I saw cloud-muted rays glinting off the surface of a large lake in the distance. “What is that?” I asked. “That’s Lake Fagnano. It is named after Monsignor Fagnano, the Italian priest who came to Tierra del Fuego many years ago to protect the natives who were living here at the time. People also call it Lake Cami, but I prefer Fagnano.” “It looks pretty big.” “Oh, yes. It’s very long. We will be driving on the south and east side of the lake. It goes all