On a long summer afternoon a Trailways bus becomes a metal box on thick, determined double tires that leaves a wake of blue smoke, tedium,1 abandoned hopes, and intentions half-formed. The wake drifts beyond the asphalt to be inhaled by white-haired black men on wooden porches, by teenage girls with bare legs and braces on their teeth. It leaves a dull film on billboards.

Inside the bus, in his summer Class-A uniform with its brass glitter and infantry-blue shoulder cordon,2 Jamie Sabin was going home. Fort Benning would be a fading dream; Preston, Virginia, a place unknown, his future. He was in between, fumbling with puzzle pieces, making up stories about the real Jamie Sabin. Each of these he set adrift like a paper boat on a shifting sea of daydreams. He did that encased in the drone and shudder of diesel pistons and hissing tires. Jamie Sabin was going home to a place unknown.

Three seats back, across the aisle, a young woman who had boarded the bus in Charlotte sat with pained furrows between her brows. Her dark eyes counted the rhythm of passing utility poles without registering a sum. Her mind rolled and pitched with passing images of weatherwracked barns, mobile homes, a brown dog with its tongue draped out to dispel the summer heat. Kathryn Shay was half asleep, but wide awake. She sat forward in her seat, slumped in it, then sat up again, her long olive fingers pressing nervously against the tote bag on her lap. Kathryn Shay was running away from a home too well known.

—R. G. Turner
(Courtesy, R. G. Turner, with permission)

Which one of the following sentences best describes the character of Jamie Sabin?

a. He’s young and eager to get home.
b. He’s a dreamer looking forward to a great new life.
c. He’s uncertain about his future in Preston, Virginia.
d. He’s a soldier who has just enlisted in the military.

What connects the wake of the bus to abandoned hopes?
a. Blue smoke
b. Asphalt
c. Dust
d. Diesel pistons

Which phrase best shows that Kathryn is tense and possibly unhappy?
a. “pained furrows between her brows”
b. “counted the rhythm of passing utility poles”
c. “half asleep, but wide awake”
d. “long olive fingers pressed nervously against the tote bag”

What is the main theme of the excerpt?
a. The stress of travel
b. The concept of home
c. The military life
d. The bus experience

What is the connection between Kathryn and Jamie?