“Oh son, you don’t know?” the cashier asked.
“No, what?” I said.
“They pay for the pavement by the foot!” he said.
And with that sarcastic Southern drawl, I learned why some highways in Alabama are narrower than elsewhere. I thought maybe I’d been too used to the luxurious 2-way byways of Northern Maine, where they leave a couple extra feet on the shoulder for winter snowpiles.
Jake Berent 