The Flamethrowers

A motorcycle race shortly after 1917 between battalion comrades Valera and Copertini ends in an accident: Copertini kills himself when he goes to fast and crashes into a tree. Valera methodically removes Copertini’s motorcycle headlamp so he could have a spare. Valera hears the distant sound of shelling, the background noise of World War I. Valera spots a German running out through the woods near him, removed from his platoon. Valera uses the removed headlamp to kill the German by smashing the headlamp against his head.

In 1976, a woman nicknamed Reno takes a break from her sweltering motorcycle drive through Nevada. She spots a bird and thinks of Pat Nixon, who presents the model of a relatable woman as current First Lady. Reno reflects that it’s easier to love people who are hard to love. As she pays for gas for her motorcycle, she observes the truck drivers on their break, swearing and singing along with music and unable to sit still. She remembers her uncle Bobby, a truck driver before he died. While he lay in the hospital dying, he would still move his leg as if a clutch needed him.