Summary

In “Riding the Bullet,” Alan Parker, the first-person narrator, writes that he was a junior in college when his mother, Jean, suffered a stroke. A neighbor called Alan to tell him his mother said she was fine and that he should wait until the weekend to come and see her, but Alan left right away. He and his mother had no other family, they had always depended on each other.

Because Alan’s car was broken down, he hitchhiked the 120 miles to the hospital. Alan had just 20 miles to go when the elderly man with whom he had been riding dropped him off. It had been five hours since he learned his mother was sick. He realized how tired he was as he walked the country road.

Alan sat against a rock wall surrounding the cemetery where he could watch for cars...