The Broken Road
By Richard Paul Evans
c. 2017, Simon & Schuster           
304 pages

It’s gone around and around.

Your mind just can’t let go: how can you put an end to a ticklish problem?

Your parents had such high hopes for you.

You were going to make it, and make something of yourself.

Your grandmother’s jewelry will be yours someday.

You’ve known that since you were small and were caught playing with them.

Someone, call the fire department.

Right. That old birthday-candle joke was funny the first time you heard it, decades ago; now, though, not so much.

Thank you for your service.

You’ve said that many times recently, and meant every word to every soldier. Thank you for keeping us protected. Thank you for your bravery. Thank you for your sacrifice.

Politicians are human.

There are surely times when you’d like to think otherwise, but the truth is that they laugh, they cry, they love—and they do boneheaded things.

You never have to darn your socks.

That was a weekly chore for Grandma, but when you have holes in your socks, you go buy new ones.