Mrs. Todd's Shortcut

The story is detailed to a friend of Homer, an older man who likes spending time at the gas station.
The plot concerns Mrs. Todd, who is obsessed with finding shortcuts. Homer admires her persistence but begins to have doubts, as there are only so many shortcuts someone can find. Mrs. Todd's habit of resetting her odometer shows remarkable evidence that something weird is going on. He also discovers evidence that her shortcuts are using up less miles than are in a straight line from one destination to another; something that would be impossible anyway in this section of Maine. Mrs. Todd finally convinces Homer to take one of the special 'shortcuts'. Homer loses his hat to the grasping arms of a tree and sees road signs and animals that he cannot explain. Frightened, Homer does not wish to take any more rides. Nonetheless, Mrs. Todd is changing with each trip she takes, and the appeal of this overwhelms Homer, despite his having found a smashed, horrifying millipede-like creature on the grill of her car (she brushes this off, having perceived it as an unfortunate, normal animal).