# Short story ID **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id/354752 "2006-04-29T17:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id/354752/1 "2006-04-29T17:47:29Z")
I think I read this in _Omni_. Or it could have been in an anthology. The situation is that a man and his wife are traveling through the desert – Mexico, I think. They stop at a humble farmhouse. They could need a drink, or their car may need water, or they have a flat tire. (I seem to remember something about a hubcap.) They are distraught. They’re desperately trying to _get away_. They tell the farmer and his wife that the world is coming to an end. As they leave, the farmer wonders what ‘the world’ is and goes back to tending his farm. Any ideas of the title or author? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id/354752/2 "2006-04-29T18:19:59Z")
I tried a number of keyword searches in Omni but couldn’t find it, though I only have it online via database from 1988-1995 (it began in the late 1970s). If you do find the name/author of it let me know and I’ll be glad to e-mail it to you if I have access. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id/354752/3 "2006-04-29T18:40:46Z")
I feel like this is something I’ve read within the last year - maybe a Bradbury story? I also think it may be something that was recommended here. I’ve tried searching here and then doing some searching in the library catalog, but I haven’t managed to find it again - if I don’t see that you’ve found it by Monday, I’ll check some of the stuff at work. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id/354752/4 "2006-04-29T19:15:22Z")
Definitely a Ray Bradbury story; I read it about thirty-five years ago. Dated from the 1950’s, I’d say, or possibly early 1960’s. You correctly remember a reference to a hubcap; once a passing car had lost a shiny crome hubcap, which the farmer found “made a fine bowl”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id/354752/5 "2006-04-29T19:20:31Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Definitely a Ray Bradbury story; I read it about thirty-five years ago. Dated from the 1950’s, I’d say, or possibly early 1960’s. You correctly remember a reference to a hubcap; once a passing car had lost a shiny crome hubcap, which the farmer found “made a fine bowl”. That’s it. I remember the bowl. When I posted that I may have read it in an anthology, I was imagining a Bradbury anthology. Unfortunately, my Bradbury collection is packed away. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id/354752/6 "2006-04-29T19:24:06Z")
It appears to be called “The Highway” from _The Illustrated Man_. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id/354752/7 "2006-04-29T19:27:03Z")
In that case it’s “The Highway” and the main character (the farmer) is named Hernando. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id/354752/8 "2006-04-29T19:28:13Z")
Or, “what Snoopy said”. :smack: (I just wanna be loved, is that so wroooing?) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id/354752/9 "2006-04-29T19:30:55Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > It appears to be called “The Highway” from _The Illustrated Man_. [That’s it](http://www.artapprentice.net/dune/willis17.html). > [@](#): > > A Mexican peasant wonders at the frantic, hurtling stream of traffic flowing north. He is told by an American who stops for water that the end of the world has come with the outbreak of the atom war. Essentially untouched in his demi-Eden, Hernando calls out to his burro as he plows the rain-fresh land below the green jungle, above the deep river. “What do they mean 'the world?”’ he asks himself, and continues plowing. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id/354752/10 "2006-04-29T19:40:21Z")
**Baldwin** inspired me. I hoped that, just maybe, the phrase “made a fine bowl” would be specific enough for a Google search.