Selected Shorts: "Surprising Interventions"
Date: January 15, 2026 | Host: Meg Wolitzer
Two stories—by Stephen King and Jamel Brinkley—explore the unexpected consequences of intervention. The episode delves into situations where outsiders change the course of others’ lives, sometimes with comic, tragic, or quietly transforming results.

Episode Overview

"Surprising Interventions" presents two short stories that probe what happens when unexpected actors—strangers, oddballs, even neighbors—step in to alter the lives of others. Host Meg Wolitzer frames intervention as purposeful but often ambiguous, tying it to traditions from ancient myth to modern crises. Through enthralling readings and lively commentary, the episode invites listeners to consider the complexities of changing, or being changed by, others.

Story 1: "The Fifth Step" by Stephen King

Read by: David Morse
Segment Start: 03:18

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Harold Jamison’s Peaceful Retirement Disrupted (03:18–07:00)

  • Jamison, a retired engineer in NYC, enjoys quiet days at Central Park until a stranger (Jack) asks to share his bench and requests a favor.
  • Jack urgently insists he needs a stranger to "save [his] life," hinting at life-or-death stakes.

• AA, Desperation, and The Fifth Step (07:00–11:30)

  • Jack reveals he's an alcoholic, recently sober via AA, working through the 12 steps.
  • Step Five requires confessing your wrongs to another human—but Jack’s sponsor insists it be to a stranger.

• Confession Spirals Into Darkness (11:30–23:00)

  • Jack’s confessions begin with petty lies and youthful misdeeds but escalate to criminality: drug smuggling, cheating, and marital deceit.
  • A growing sense of unease accompanies Jack’s recounting, as Jamison's skepticism turns to mounting discomfort.

• Shocking Twist (23:00–25:00)

  • In a chilling crescendo, Jack abruptly admits to murder:
    • “I did leave, but I cut that bitch’s throat before I did.” – Jack (23:20)
  • He stabs Jamison with an ice pick, completing his "fifth step" by revealing a killer’s pleasure in violence, then calmly walks away:
    • “Killing people, it’s a character defect, I know. And probably the chief of my wrongs.” – Jack (24:10)
    • “You’ll be in my prayers.” – Jack (24:55)

Notable Quotes

• “You could be saving my life. ... That’s exactly the point. The two of us being strangers.” – Jack (04:35)
• “I don’t do favors for strange men.” – Jamison (04:37)
• “God’s help—I can’t stop on my own, but with God’s help I can.” – Jack (08:40)
• “I did leave, but I cut that bitch’s throat before I did.” – Jack (23:20)
• “You’ll be in my prayers.” – Jack (24:55)

Backstage Reflection

Interview with David Morse (25:28)

• Morse describes the appeal of King’s story:
  • “It seems simple enough... and of course, it’s Stephen King, so it takes a little turn.” – Morse (25:40)
• On performing dark material:
  • “That niceness sometimes has a dark side.” – Morse (25:52)
• On King’s technique:
  • “…fun characters... so vivid. And I think that’s probably for actors... part of what’s fun.” – Morse (26:10)

Story 2: "Blessed Deliverance" by Jamel Brinkley

Read by: Teagle F. Bougere
Segment Start: 29:42

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Growing Up in Bed-Stuy: Friendship & Change (29:42–32:00)

  • Five friends in Brooklyn navigate adolescence, futures, and shifting neighborhoods.
  • Their bond is strong yet tested by looming adulthood, family troubles, and changing desires.

• An Unexpected Sanctuary: The Rabbit Rescue (32:00–37:00)

  • The friends, visiting a new rabbit rescue, discover that the manager’s helper “Reginald” is their childhood acquaintance “Head Ass”—an eccentric once laughed off as background noise.
  • Reginald finds unexpected purpose and joy among the animals, becoming central to the story’s evolving theme of belonging and transformation.

• Connection and Dissolution (37:00–45:00)

  • Head Ass’ earnestness, even as he sits “gleefully in a pile of rabbit shit,” briefly rekindles group harmony.
  • Yet, struggles at home and fragile personal dynamics soon re-fracture the group.

• The Animal Suit and the Neighborhood’s Tension (45:00–53:00)

  • Reginald dons a rabbit costume as the rescue tries to draw in crowds.
  • Interactions with Cyan (the white rescue owner) reveal discomforts about gentrification, race, and who belongs.
  • Reginald is called not by the name the kids remember but by “Reginald,” challenging ideas about identity and erasure.

• Loss, Mourning, and Attempted Reunion (53:00–57:00)

  • Reginald is set adrift after being caught sleeping at the rescue; the kids’ attempts to regroup repeatedly falter.
  • Memories surface of what the place—once a church named "Blessed Deliverance"—used to offer, and the narrator’s father’s pain is hinted as part of the greater neighborhood loss.

• A Final, Fleeting Collectivity (57:00–End)

  • On Thanksgiving, stray rabbits fill the street: Head Ass, now both spectral and real, summons them with a pot and spoon, as the diaspora of friends, families, and neighbors momentarily forms a joyous, unstructured crowd.
  • The friends share in mutual recognition—no longer what they were, but briefly united.

Notable Quotes

• “Who knew that Old Ass Head Ass was capable of even greater feats of Head Assery?” – Narrator (29:42)
• “What we had felt coerced into doing with Jerez cast us into a net from which we were eager to escape.” – Narrator (42:45)
• “The cathedral of Blessed Deliverance. That’s what it was called for real… the singing that came out of there would bring you to your knees.” – Narrator’s father (52:55)
• “This is chicory, right? ... No, no.” — Reginald/Head Ass (59:28)
• “Then he told me his name. Then I told him mine.” – Narrator (59:35)

Memorable Moments

• Head Ass’ animal empathy, sitting cross-legged and feeding rabbits—“with rapid pulsing movements of his nostrils and mouth as though he were eating too” (36:55)
• The moment when, cast out, he leads a low-key act of street rebellion and belonging with the rabbits (57:00–59:00)
• The story’s achingly gentle closing: the two outcasts offering names, a symbolic gesture of mutual recognition and dignity.

Host Reflection & Thematic Wrap-up

Host: Meg Wolitzer
Segment: 57:36–End

• On first-person narration in “Blessed Deliverance”:
  • “We the readers and listeners, get to directly experience the narrative and transformation...” (57:45)
• On ambiguity and morality:
  • “There’s a side of Reginald...like Lenny in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men... but here, his ungainly impulses lead not to tragedy but... to being known.” (57:50)
• On fiction as intervention:
  • “Intervention is an inviting concept in fiction because there is a built-in sense of encounter, challenge, and moral ambiguity.” (58:10)
• On the outcome:
  • “Both Stephen King and Jamel Brinkley leave us with questions about right and wrong, and we might wonder whether the intervention they depict was the best way out of things.” (58:30)

Key Timestamps

• 03:18 – Start of Stephen King’s "The Fifth Step"
• 23:00 – Jack’s confession escalates to murder
• 25:28 – Interview with David Morse
• 29:42 – Start of Jamel Brinkley’s "Blessed Deliverance"
• 36:55 – Head Ass’ rabbit empathy scene
• 42:45 – The group splits after failed reunion
• 57:00 – Stray rabbits and the climactic gathering
• 57:36 – Host’s thematic wrap-up

Tone & Language

• Wolitzer’s narration is warm, witty, and inviting, skillfully bridging high literary themes with accessibility.
• King's story is taut, suspenseful, darkly comic, and menacing.
• Brinkley’s work is lyrical, sometimes playful, laced with the rawness of growing up and the ache of change.

Summary Takeaways

• Intervention frames both stories: in King, it's a dangerous, almost fatal invasion; in Brinkley, a messy, bittersweet attempt to mend and be seen.
• Both narratives unsettle received notions of rescue, confession, and transformation.
• The episode is a powerful meditation on the ways others step in—sometimes offering hope, sometimes disaster, but always changing the story.

Listener tip: For literary fiction lovers, both stories exemplify why great writing can shock, disturb, and ultimately connect us—even if only for an hour.