Hillbilly Elegy

morning to a call from my sister, who
said that Mamaw’s lung had collapsed,
that she was lying in the hospital in a
coma, and that I should come home as
quickly as possible. Two hours later, I
was on the road. I packed my dress blue
uniform, just in case I needed it for a
funeral. On the way, a West Virginia
police officer pulled me over for going
ninety-four miles an hour on I–77. He
asked why I was in such a hurry, and
when I explained, he told me that the
highway was clear of speed traps for the
next seventy miles, after which I’d cross
into Ohio, and that I should go as fast as
I wanted until then. I took my warning
ticket, thanked him profusely, and drove