A Life Wasted

Broke in the Lower 48

When you're hitchhike you can't be picky about the ride you get. I was thankful that the pickup truck had stopped, but I nearly passed on the ride. It was an old Datsun pickup. There were two old guys in the front who could have played extra's in Burt Reynold's movie "Deliverance." In the back of the open pickup truck sat a young guy and gal, both in their teens. The only place to sit was in the back against the tailgate, which I noted was welded shut. I was wondering if it was legal to ride in the back of a pickup in Illinois when I got in.

The guy in the back nodded a greeting, but never said a word. The girl, who looked about sixteen was friendly and said, "Welcome." It seemed a formal greeting for the occasion, but I smiled back and said, "Thank you." She was wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt that clearly lacked a bra. No sooner than I had returned her greeting than had she spread her legs to reveal a large opening in the crotch of her jeans. She wore nothing other than the jeans and t-shirt. You'd think that by this point in my life little could shock me, but this young girl easily managed it. I immediately looked away and I am sure my face was red with embarrassment. She laughed but didn't taunt me further.

After a while she asked where I was going. I told her and she said they were going to Maine so they could take me all the way to Pittsburgh. Their route wouldn't take them through Pittsburgh but I didn't bother to point this out. I knew the roads well enough to know that I-80, which we were on, would split in Youngstown, Ohio. There I-80 would continue east towards New York City, but I-76 would and the Ohio Turnpike would take a south eastern turn. It would then become the Pennsylvania Turnpike which would pass the outskirts of Pittsburgh.

A little more time passed when the girl asked if I was hungry. I was. The only thing I'd eaten was a Danish at the hotel and that was long ago eaten up by adrenalin. I didn't want to impose so I shrugged. The girl reached behind her, causing me to look away again, and produced a McDonald's bag. She asked if a fish sandwich was okay, to which I nodded. After eating the sandwich in a few bites she handed me another, which I also inhaled. I really was hungry. The girl then offered me an apple pie from a different McDonald's bag, but I declined. I offered to pay for the sandwiches but she laughed and said they got them dumpster diving.

I'm not particular about most stuff, but the thought of eating food out of a dumpster nearly made me vomit. Young as she was the girl was fairly perceptive. She saw my discomfort and explained how fast food places threw food away if it had been in the warming tray too long and that they put them in a bag when they did. It was all clean. She also explained that they had traveled all the way from Oregon eating out of dumpsters.

At the last service plaza before leaving Illinois they stopped and parked. When everyone got out the girl explained that we'd be there for about an hour while they panhandled for money. Apparently they didn't even have the cash to pay the toll to get off the turnpike. Eager to get back to my family I offered to pay the toll. That was okay with them but they also needed gas money. Again, I said I'd pay it as long as we could keep going. The girl said that if I'd pay for the gas and tolls they'd take me to Pittsburgh. I explained that Pittsburgh was off their route and she said it didn't matter. I gave her fifty bucks and we all climbed back into the truck.

No one had spoken except the girl. Now I was curious so as we rolled down the turnpike I asked about their trip. She explained that they all lived in a small commune in Oregon and were traveling to a Rainbow Gathering in Maine. Because they believed in being wild and free they were making the entire trip without any money. They left with what gas was already in the truck and what ever they happened to have on their back. They didn't have luggage. The girl held up a skimpy tank top and said this was the only change of clothes she had. I suppose she wanted to prove her point because she removed her t-shirt and casually covered her bare chest with the skimpy tank top. The trucker who'd been in the process of passing us must have witnessed this because he nearly ran us off the road in his distraction.

My face was red again.

They dropped me off at the long term parking lot beside my van. My battery was dead so they gave me a jump. I gave them another $20 for the help and we parted. I had never heard of the Rainbow Gathering before, but having heard the name now noticed it later on the news. It was a big gathering of hippies. The news broadcast called them an eclectic group. Eclectic is a good word for those that I meet. I still find it odd that the young girl was the only one who spoke. From the little I witnessed, she also made the decisions. Truly a strange group.

Because of the single ride all the way to the van I was able to make the 1,000 mile round trip back to my family in less than twenty-four hours. We were all relieved to be back together. I'm not real clear on the details of the next few months so I had to ask Mary. It seems like Mary and the kids stayed with a lifelong friend of hers in Pennsylvania and I went on to Atlanta in the van to find work. They stayed in Ohio for several weeks until I was able to rent a house for us in Blue Ridge, Georgia, which is a very small town in far north Georgia.

I commuted back and forth to a contract job not too far away and we lived a quiet life for several months. We nearly had a disaster when a stranger attempted to abduct six year old Kelly. I was in the house when eight year old Becky screamed for me. I ran out to find thirteen year old Emily running towards the road screaming at Kelly who was still near the road, but had begun to run towards the house. The house sat a good 100 yards off the road, so this was a fair distance. I could see dust on the dirt road from a car's sudden departure, but the car itself was blocked from my view by trees. Becky told me what had happened while Emily retrieved her little sister. A car with two men in it had stopped on the road and called Kelly by name. Kelly responded to her name being called and went towards the car. Emily saw this and since she didn't recognize the car or the men sent Becky to get me and went after Kelly screaming at her to get away from the car.

Hearing this I grabbed my gun, gave Mary a quick summary with instructions to call the police, then took Becky with me to chase the car. It wasn't a good idea to take my eight year old daughter on what could turn into a gun fight, but I saw little choice. Becky saw the car clearly, but couldn't tell me what kind of car it was, so I need her to help me find these guys. And I most definitely wanted to find these guys. At the time I didn't realize the men had called my daughter by name. Though that would have worried me far more than I was, I was plenty motivated to find these men. I'd known evil men in my life, but to me none were as evil as men who abducted and harmed children. Having failed to grab my daughter, they would like try to steal another child. This I could not allow.

I drove as fast as I could down that dirt road, to the turns I thought a fleeing criminal might take, but never found the car. Thinking they might have gone to ground somewhere I set up on the most likely road out of town and waited an hour. I was disappointed that we didn't catch these evil SOB's, but I wasn't worried about the safety of my children until I got home. When I learned that the men knew Kelly's name and used it to lure her to their car I was ready to pack and move immediately. So was Mary. We tried to figure out how these men would have known our daughter's name but couldn't figure it out. We were new to the community and home schooled our children. The only people who would know the names of our children were those from the small church we attended. We didn't know them well, but Mary and I both liked and trusted everyone we'd met there. All this left us in a conundrum. For the time being we only allowed the kids to play near the house and then only with Mary or I armed and watching. We were both in full flight or flight mode, only there wasn't anyone to fight and we didn't have the money to run.