More From Three-Minute Fiction Contest

Until our judge, novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, decides on a winner of the Three-Minute Fiction contest, we're bringing you excerpts of stories that have caught our eye. This week, NPR's Susan Stamberg reads a passage from "Friendly Skies" by Tiffany Hawk of Eastampton, N.J., and Bob Mondello reads a passage from "The 46 Local" by John Lynch of Binghamton, N.Y.