Notes of a Would-Be Astronaut
by Fairleigh Brooks
Category: Fiction

Tom McAllister finally answers the call of the open road. His itch, fermenting for years, erupts into present reality when his daughters rag on Janis Joplin while watching MTV. Now he has a need for escape velocity, and to somehow reclaim July boyhood afternoons. At a Chevy dealership, clutching $30,000, he buys a screaming-yellow Corvette to achieve escape velocity. He hits the road without warning, leaving behind family and success. Tom begins wandering across America, meeting people he’d never find most anywhere in his suburban life. Included are an ex-NASA engineer from the heydays of Apollo and a kid pimping himself on Hollywood Blvd. He also meets David, a trust fund hippie and rudderless nomad. David’s shrinking world has delivered him to a black hole of fate. In David, Tom sees what he might become, ultimately facing his reality on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.