Lead Us Not Into Penn Station

The year is 1955, and the world of Danny Meadoff spins with ease and stability. Eisenhower is president, soul groups are black, NBA teams are white. Fathers do not speak with sons. The Dodgers have jumped out to an early lead and look to meet the Yankees in the Series. And, according to universal plan, to lose. Everything is in its place. Or is it? The father of Danny's best friend has become a philanderer and a Republican. The sax player at Flatbush and Nostrand blows notes that are not in the songs. There is talk—inconceivable, but talk nonetheless—of the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn. Danny's world seems to be wobbling in its orbit. Most worrisome, in this summer when time suspends and loopholes dimple the laws of probability, is the shadow. Late at night in Danny's backyard a shadow appears. Or does it? LEAD US NOT INTO PENN STATION is a picaresque, a tale following three young men through the rapids of loyalty, stasis, and mutability. Comic and nostalgic, it tells the story of a boy's redemptive love for his father.