Sam Norton is a modern man in a modern business, "he was a computer salesman," who has a decidedly modern problem. He needs an automobile that will tow a trailer full of his family's belongings to Los Angeles, where his firm has transferred him. With money being in short supply, he hunts for a bargain and finds one, a foreign car of unknown manufacture that is in very good condition—except for its trunk. His journey to California turns out to be a mind-broadening trip, not just for the sights along the way but also for a trunk that behaves as no proper trunk should.

When he slides off the road in a snow storm, he seems truly stuck. But when he gets out of the car to have a look, he notices the trunk, supposedly welded shut, has popped open: "The interior...