by Steve Rockwell
Eleven miles out of Binghamton, New York, the timing belt on our Volkswagen Passat snapped. Occurring as it did going downhill, the moment was strangely peaceful with the car still moving – engine silent, pistons having bent in barely audible pings. I’m not a car person, so I would have appreciated knowing that the 1990 VW Passat uses ‘an interference engine design.’ Meaning: a snapped timing belt will cause catastrophic internal engine damage!
Well, the unintended consequence of all this was getting to know the Rod Serling of his hometown a touch deeper. Booking a motel summer 1999 in the Carousel Capital of the World turned into a roulette of Name the Appropriate Twilight Zone Episode. Memories of a Serling biography from a nine-year-ago-reading came to life.
(to be continued)