The Absent Traveler - A Novella & Other Stories

Charles Lime eats, breathes, and sleeps the romantic idea of leaving Small Town USA, wandering the globe, and ''having grand adventures laced with the danger and lustiness of exotic climes.'' In reality, Charles, a 20-something college graduate, walks the drab city streets of Western Pennsylvania, dazed and bemused--a dreamy misfit bewitched by a girl and bewildered by a string of misfortunes.

These wakeup calls are harsher than the customary dose of Dad's verbal assaults, the drunken landlady's late-night sexual harassment, and the apocalyptic messages of a pamphlet-pushing, religious zealot. If someone has the right to fall off the deep end, it's Charles Lime. And so he chooses to retreat further into his imagination where he creates a parallel life filled with overseas travel, adventure and Serbian pop music. To say Charles finds solace in fantasizing about escape is an understatement. Chronic thoughtlessness defines his whole existence and his departure via mind travel is his panacea.