Down the Road
By Lee BlessingDown the Road is the story of a married couple who make a living writing the biographies of serial killers. Their current project is a ruthless killer named Bill Reach. The ordeal starts to get to Dan, shortly after finding out that Iris, his wife, is pregnant. He is talking into a tape recorder, on which he records his thoughts and notes.
DAN
I talk to Bill about his childhood tomorrow - taking a vacation from his... road trips. The scariest thing is that his upbringing wasn't scary. Couple stepfathers, but no abuse, beatings, molestation. Only child - so are millions. In a juvenille center for a while - there are thousands. Didn't like his mother much, but she was no monster. His home life was marked by what you'd have to call - in this country at least - the usual emptiness.
I've started daydreaming about the Interstate. Mile after mile, every night. Utterly familiar by now, but... featureless. Where's it come from? Everywhere. Where's it go? Everywhere. The other day, driving to the prison, I caught myself fantasizing about just going on; ignoring the exit, following the next bend in the highway, the next. Getting lost on the largest engineering project in the history of the world. Floating there. No set destination, no limit to where you go. Parallel universe. If someone wants a ride, give 'em a ride. Nothing matters. Newspaper, TV, radio - it's their state, not yours; their problem, not yours; their daughter, not -
In the decade of the 1950's, before completion of the Interstate, there was only one case of serial murder reported in the United States. In the whole decade, just one. Now - one a month. One a month.
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