Editing Riding the Bullet (section)

==Plot summary==

Alan Parker is a student at the [[University of Maine]] who is trying to find himself. He gets a call from a neighbor in his hometown of [[Lewiston, Maine|Lewiston]], telling him that his mother has been taken to the hospital after having a [[stroke]]. Lacking a functioning car, Parker decides to [[hitchhike]] the 120 miles (200 km) south to visit his mother.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/03/19/daily/032000king-bullet.html?scp=2&sq=riding%20the%20bullet&st=cse |title=Click if You Dare: It's the Cybercrypt|author= Lehmann-haupt, Christopher| work=The New York Times|date=March 20, 2000|access-date=December 15, 2009}}</ref>

He ends up riding with an old man who continually tugs at his crotch in a car that stinks of urine. Eventually frightened and glad to escape the vehicle, Alan starts walking, hitchhiking his next ride. Coming upon a graveyard, he begins to explore it and notices a [[headstone]] for a stranger named George Staub, which reads: "Well Begun, Too Soon Done". Sure enough, the next car to pick him up is driven by George Staub, complete with black [[surgical suture|stitches]] around his neck where his head had been sewn on after being severed and wearing a [[Pin-back button|button]] saying, "I Rode The Bullet At Thrill Village, Laconia."<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/03/19/daily/032000king-bullet.html?scp=2&sq=riding%20the%20bullet&st=cse |title=Click if You Dare: It's the Cybercrypt|author= Lehmann-haupt, Christopher| work=The New York Times|date=March 20, 2000|access-date=December 15, 2009}}</ref>

During the ride, George talks to Alan about the [[amusement park ride]] he was too scared to ride as a kid: The Bullet in Thrill Village, [[Laconia, New Hampshire]]. George tells Alan that before they reach the lights of town, Alan must choose who goes on the death ride with George: Alan or his mother. In a moment of fright, Alan saves himself and tells him: "Take her. Take my mother."

George shoves Alan out of the car. Alan reappears alone at the graveyard, wearing the "I Rode the Bullet at Thrill Village" button. He eventually reaches the hospital, where he learns that despite his guilt and the impending feeling that his mother is dead or will die any moment, she is fine.

Alan takes the button and treasures it as a good (or bad) luck charm. His mother returns to work. Alan graduates and takes care of his mother for several years, and she suffers another stroke.

One day, Alan loses the button and receives a phone call; he knows what the call is about. He finds the button underneath his mother's bed and, after a final moment of sadness, guilt, and meditation, decides to carry on. His mother's "ride" is over.