Paper Towns - Prologue

The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle. Like, I will probably never be struck by lightning, or win aNobel Prize, or become the dictator of a small nation in the Pacific Islands, or contract terminal ear cancer,or spontaneously combust. But if you consider all the unlikely things together, at least one of themwill probably happen to each of us....

Categories: Paper Towns

Paper Towns - Agloe

The speed limit drops from fifty-five to forty-five and then to thirty-five. We cross some railroadtracks, and we’re in Roscoe. We drive slowly through a sleepy downtown with a café, a clothing store,a dollar store, and a couple boarded-up storefronts.I lean forward and say, “I can imagine her in there.”“Yeah,” Ben allows. “Man, I really don’t want...

Categories: Paper Towns

Paper Towns - Hour Twenty One

After more than 1,100 miles on interstates, it’s finally time to exit. It’s entirely impossible to driveseventy-seven miles per hour on the two-lane state highway that takes us farther north, up toward theCatskills. But we’ll be okay. Radar, ever the brilliant tactician, has banked an extra thirty minuteswithout telling us. It’s beautiful up here,...

Categories: Paper Towns

Paper Towns - Hour Twenty

I’m sitting in the first bedroom with Lacey. Ben drives. Radar’s navigating. I was asleep when theylast stopped, but they picked up a map of New York. Agloe isn’t marked, but there are only five or sixintersections north of Roscoe. I always thought of New York as being a sprawling and endless metropolis,but here it is just lush rolling hills that the...

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Paper Towns - Hour Nineteen

When I wake up, Radar and Ben are loudly debating the name of the car. Ben would like to name itMuhammad Ali, because, just like Muhammad Ali, the minivan takes a punch and keeps going. Radarsays you can’t name a car after a historical figure. He thinks the car ought to be called Lurlene, becauseit sounds right.“You want to name it Lurlene?” Ben asks,...

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Paper Towns - Hour Eighteen

I sle...

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Paper Towns - Hour Sixteen

I sle...

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Paper Towns - Hour Seventeen

I sle...

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Paper Towns - Hour Fifteen

A thin stand of oak trees obscures the cornfields that stretch out to the horizon. The landscape changes,but nothing else. Big interstates like this one make the country into a single place: McDonald’s, BP,Wendy’s. I know I should probably hate that about interstates and yearn for the halcyon days of yore,back when you could be drenched in local color...

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Paper Towns - Hour Fourteen

Every couple minutes, Radar says, “Do you guys remember that time when we were all definitely goingto die and then Ben grabbed the steering wheel and dodged a ginormous freaking cow and spun thecar like the teacups at Disney World and we didn’t die?”Lacey leans across the kitchen, her hand on Ben’s knee, and says, “I mean, you are a hero, do yourealize...

Categories: Paper Towns

Paper Towns - Hour Thirteen

Every couple minutes, Radar says, “Do you guys remember that time when we were all definitely goingto die and then Ben grabbed the steering wheel and dodged a ginormous freaking cow and spun thecar like the teacups at Disney World and we didn’t die?”Lacey leans across the kitchen, her hand on Ben’s knee, and says, “I mean, you are a hero, do yourealize...

Categories: Paper Towns

Paper Towns - Hour Twelve

It is 2:40 in the morning. Lacey is sleeping. Radar is sleeping. I drive. The road is deserted. Even mostof the truck drivers have gone to bed. We go minutes without seeing headlights coming in the oppositedirection. Ben keeps me awake, chattering next to me. We are talking about Margo.“Have you given any thought to how we will actually, like, find...

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Paper Towns - Hour Eleven

We hit the construction. The highway narrows to one lane, and we’re stuck behind a tractor-trailerdriving the precise roadwork speed limit of thirty-five mph. Lacey is the right driver for the situation;I’d be pounding the steering wheel, but she’s just amiably chatting with Ben until she turns half aroundand says, “Q, I really need to go to the bathroom,...

Categories: Paper Towns

Paper Towns - Hour Ten

It is time for our second stop. It is 12:13 in the morning. My fingers do not feel like they are made offingers; they feel like they are made of motion. I am tickling the steering wheel as I drive.After Radar finds the nearest BP on his handheld, we decide to wake up Lacey and Ben.I say, “Hey, guys, we’re about to stop.” No reaction.Radar turns around...

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Paper Towns - Hour Nine

I never previously knew that it is possible to become tired of eating GoFast nutrition bars. But it ispossible. I’m only two bites into my fourth of the day when my stomach turns. I pull open the centerconsole and stick it back inside. We refer to this part of the kitchen as the pantry.“I wish we had some apples,” Radar said. “God, wouldn’t an apple...

Categories: Paper Towns

Paper Towns - Hour Eight

Just after we pass into South Carolina, I catch Radar yawning and insist upon a driver switch. I likedriving, anyway—this vehicle may be a minivan, but it’s my minivan. Radar scoots out of his seat andinto the first bedroom, while I grab the steering wheel and hold it steady, quickly stepping over the kitchenand into the driver’s seat.Traveling, I...

Categories: Paper Towns

Paper Towns - Hour Seven

We finally pass a jackknifed truck and get back up to speed, but Radar calculates in his head that we’llneed to average seventy-seven from here to Agloe. It has been one entire hour since Ben announcedthat he needed to pee, and the reason for this is simple: he is sleeping. At six o’clock exactly, he tookNyQuil. He lay down in the wayback, and then...

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Paper Towns - Hour Six

For some reason, the stretch of I-95 just south of Florence, South Carolina, is the place to drive a car ona Friday evening. We get bogged down in traffic for several miles, and even though Radar is desperateto violate the speed limit, he’s lucky when he can go thirty. Radar and I sit up front, and we try to keepfrom worrying by playing a game we’ve...

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