Nebraska enters the account as the destination of a cross-country journey and the setting for a chance ride that turns dangerous. After hitchhiking for three days from California through Nevada and Wyoming, Dick and Perry Smith reach Nebraska, where a traveling salesman picks them up on the road toward Omaha.

Route and Setting

The journey places Nebraska at the eastern end of the men’s west-to-east passage. The salesman, Mr. Bell, is about a hundred miles from Omaha, the destination of his work trip, when he sees the two hitchhikers. The encounter takes place late in the afternoon on a straight road across winter-stripped prairie, with no houses or other people in view.

The Roadside Encounter

Mr. Bell is tired and hopes to stop for a nap, but he wants company to keep him awake until Omaha. Although a company rule forbids its salesmen to pick up hitchhikers, he often ignores it when bored or drowsy, and he brakes for Dick and Perry. He takes them for ordinary young travelers and begins talking with them; he does not know that they intend to rob and kill him.

Narrative Significance

The Nebraska road is the point at which a journey in search of a suitable victim meets an unsuspecting driver. Earlier rides had come from truck drivers, soldiers, and a pair of prizefighters; Mr. Bell is the first solitary traveler they judge to fit their purpose. The open prairie and the long drive toward Omaha provide the setting for a tense contrast between the ordinary conversation in the car and the concealed plan carried by its passengers.