They all looked like Vic

Gerhard Jones, traveling salesman for Fuller Brush Company, arrived at the Sportsman Motel in the town of Malta, Montana, and asked for his room. The clerk looked like a kid whom he knew at school, Vic, but Gerhard didn’t say anything. Gerhard was from Louisiana, about as far from Lafayette as you could get. The clerk was too young to be Vic and too old to be his son. It was at the end of summer, and everything was dry. Gerhard crossed the tracks and walked over to the Stockman Bar & Steakhouse. It was almost empty, but the guy behind the bar looked like Vic. Even worse, a guy playing pool looked like Vic, too, but with a black beard. Gerhard took a table and ordered a steak. A young woman brought it out of the kitchen. She looked like Vic, too. Gerhard decided to leave town. If he hadn’t, everyone he would have seen in the small town of Malta would have looked like Vic.