The Lincoln Highway

Woolly accompanies Sarah into Manhattan, where he embraces the privilege of visiting one of his favorite places, FAO Schwarz. It had been a family tradition for Woolly’s grandmother to escort all of her grandchildren to the monumental toy store each Christmas season so they could each pick out their gift. Woolly’s favorite part of the store is the display filled with dollhouse furniture. Inside is an impressive collection of beautiful miniatures in historic design patterns, rendered in precise detail to scale. Sarah finds him there as she had many years before, when the family, on their annual Christmas shopping trip, was preparing to leave the store and Woolly was discovered to be missing from their group. Woolly reminds Sarah of how they always used to have tea together at the Plaza Hotel with their grandmother and of how difficult he always found the process of trying to choose a present out of the thousands of options offered in the store. As they are leaving, Woolly is startled by a pair of employees attempting to capture their attention. Woolly has completely forgotten that he made a purchase, and because he isn’t certain what is happening, “[i]ntending to wear an expression of comic surprise, Woolly turned to his sister.