Tales from the Gas Station: Volume One (Tales from the Gas Station, #1)

by Jack Townsend

When it comes to upkeep, the gas station aims for “good enough” and usually misses.

After I blew past my expiration date, Dr. V. was quick to remind me that I was not getting better, I was simply dying much slower than anticipated. But when you think about it, isn’t that all anyone can really ask for?

“You told me you were ‘one hundred percent’ certain you had the correct words. If that’s true, why do you need me to validate what you already know?”

A couple gnomes showed up right outside the back door, and I left them where I found them because one of them was holding a steak knife and I don’t need that kind of crazy in my life.

Honestly, he did make a few good points, but I suppose that’s to be expected from a viral thought experiment strong enough to convince perfectly normal people to abandon their real lives and go live in a commune in the woods past the shitty gas station on the edge of town.

I think no man ever steps in the same river twice. I think that, in terms of reality, perception outweighs actuality in every case, but if I were to say something like that in this town I’d get my ass kicked for being a pretentious dick.

Isn’t this how I’ve always been? Would I even know if I started acting differently?

We only get to control the context so much, but the effects of that control are where happiness and suffering coexist. So I wake up every day and try to shift the balance a little more towards happy, and it works best if I start with myself.”

A lot can be conveyed in just an instant if you know the person you’re looking at.