LITERATURE: BASS 2007 – Riding the Doghouse

This short story by Randy DeVita is very well put together.  Opening with a scenario of a father getting up in the night to check on his young son, it goes into recall of the man’s own relationship with his truckdriver
father and a particular incident when he rode along with him.

The trip was a usual one, but the conversation in the truck between father and son holds tension as the boy, realizing that his father is just a truckdriver as compared to his best friend’s father who goes to work in a suit and carries a briefcase, mentions this to his dad during the drive. 

There is a standing rule that the boy touch nothing in the truck while his father is not there, and at a truckstop, the boy breaks this rule and gets on the CB.  In the ensuing conversation with a mysterious trucker with the handle "Midnight," the boy comes to realize that he has put himself in danger and possibly his father as well by making this connection.

As the author returns us to the present, the man, as a father looking in on his son, we see the caring and understanding that comes from experience that provides a different perspective on events of the past.

Very nicely done.  This story succeeds in creating atmosphere, interest, and something to think about after the story is read.