osprey_archer | On the Highway

Fun (or possibly slightly alarming) fact: I got so absorbed in thinking about

asakiyume's "On the Highway" that I, like the heroine Jolene, skidded on the icy road.

Unlike Jolene I wasn't going very fast, so I just skidded a bit before I got the car back under control. In the story, however, Jolene slides right off the highway into a ditch - and that's where she's sitting when a helpful stranger finds her...

I really liked the story - possibly more than was good for me, clearly - the ghostly wayfarer thing it's got going on (which is also reminiscent of that Emily Dickinson poem: "Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me"), the New Year's Eve setting (I love holiday stories and it's always fun to see one for a holiday that is not Christmas), the lovely atmospheric writing and particularly the contrast between the warmth and cold. He helps Jolene into the cab, which is warm and golden, like the inside of a jack-o-lantern...

It's a lovely New Year treat.