On this Selected Shorts program, host Meg Wolitzer presents stories about journeys—physical and emotional—that end in unexpected places. In “A Woman Driving Alone,” by Marie-Helene Bertino, the main character travels s long way to see a friend, but seems also to be escaping a challenging moment in her life. The piece was commissioned for Selected Shorts’ anthology Small Odysseys, and is read by Amber Tamblyn. In Tom Perrotta’s “Nine Inches”, a teacher drives only across town, to chaperone a middle school dance, but almost gets into trouble himself. The story is performed by Santino Fontana.

This piece is by writer Maeve Dunigan. Her work has been featured in The New Yorker and in McSweeney's; and her first collection of humor pieces and essays, Read This to Look Cool, will be published in 2025. Our reader was none other than Susie Essman, the longtime stand-up comic who spent many years yelling at Larry David while playing Susie Green on Curb Your Enthusiasm. She has also had recurring roles in series including Broad City and Hacks. After the story, Host Aparna Nancherla talks to Meg Wolitzer about this story; she's a novelist and the regular host of Selected Shorts—the show which provides Too Hot with its cornucopia of highbrow demi-smut. On top of all this, she is an avid Scrabble and Words with Friends player; so she surely knows about the feeling described in the story.

Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories in that look at some of the ways we “keep score” in life even though we know it’s not a game. Simon Rich explores the game as intergenerational competition in “The Tribal Rite of the Strombergs,” read by John Hodgman. In Dylan Marron’s “Some News,” a man carefully tracks an old friend on social media, while eyeing his own accomplishments. Marron is the reader. And Joanne Harris’ “Fule’s Gold,” a teacher tries to put himself on the board—by stealing points from an unwitting student. The reader is Gildart Jackson.