On a Drive

On a Drive

A national newspaper reported recently that a man from Tennessee had
been caught by the police one day after robbing a bank. The bank robber
gave the authorities no explanation for his deed. According to the news
report it wasn't until after his arrest and after his wife, Alice,
asked him why he needed the money that the bank robber said, I need
money to spread myself over time, Alice. We could've spread things out
a bit. We wouldn't've had to live day-to-day so much, the newspaper
said he said. Could've lived a better, wider, flatter life, they said
he said. Not a life all bunched up like this and uncomfortable. A
friend of ours read this story out loud from the back seat of the car
on a drive along the Palisades. Some days later while waiting for the
results of his wife's pregnancy test, my friend told me he felt ashamed
for having read that story out loud.