FISHTRAP HOLLOW, Miss.—Our town has one traffic light. You might think it would be easy to give a stranger directions to Luka and its suburbs, where I live. It is not.

A Louisiana newspaperman visiting relatives in Oxford, Miss., was heading north. I wanted to make a good impression, so I tried to sound halfway sane as I practiced aloud giving directions to my house.

It’s hard to sound sane talking to yourself. That’s why people walking around talking on their cell phones appear insane and possibly are. I rehearsed anyhow.

“You will get to a four-way stop on...

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