Hello. I am Dan Eastman

An Excerpt

This Friday there is a good chance I will be spinning a yarn at the historic Museum of Art in Philadelphia. It is a show about gifts. Here is an excerpt of the story I am writing:

Flash forward to age 17. I had worked multiple paper routes to save up and buy my first car entirely in cash: A 1992 Chevy Cavalier. It was an old clunker as most first cars are, but I was excited. However, just four short months (they were all February’s) into owning it, I’m driving on a main highway in rush hour traffic when something in the steering begins feeling tight. Then it was very loose. The brakes seemed to be operating on their own. I pumped the center pedal to no avail. The brakes had ceased working altogether. Cars hissed by me. I found myself imaging I was trapped in Maximum Overdrive, the film about killer automobiles directed by Stephen King. I was beginning to suspect that Stephen King was directing my life since it was all turning into bullshit. I looked up just as I was about to crash into the rear of the car just ahead of me. I pulled the emergency brake and stopped just in time. I drove the rest of the way home using only the e-brake. I parked and slouched low in the driver’s seat. My first car had already died. And I was broke.