The Persuasion of Dot Farlowe

Roadside Wonders occupies a long, low building on Highway 9, three miles from anything else. Inside: sixteen exhibits, a ceiling fan, and Dot Farlowe — curator, ticket-taker, and immovable object. You are Rex Calloway, traveling photographer, and in that glass case behind Dot sits the most perfect giant roadrunner taxidermy you have ever seen. It belongs to a magazine cover and you both know it. Dot does not care. Dot has reasons.