This series is a little bit biographical and a little
bit imaginary about my dad and a road trip he took in the summer of 1946, when
he turned fifteen. He and a friend hitchhiked from Loring Park to Duluth, into
Canada and back again. He was gone from home for a month. I was astonished and
fascinated by the tale. So, I added some speculation about things I've always
wondered about and this series is the result. To read earlier SHORT LONG
JOURNEY NORTH clips, click on the label to the right, scroll down to and click
OLDER ENTRIES seven or eight times. The FIRST entry is on the bottom of the
last page.
Tommy Hastings and Freddie
Merrill trudged in silence under the blazing summer sun until Tommy finally
said, “The last week of school, I told Earl I had heat stroke to see if I could
stay home sick.”
Freddie barked a laugh just
as a cool breeze dribbled from the north, along the road and slid up their
backs. Both boys sighed and trudged a few more feet until they stopped.
The breeze carried the deep-throated
rumble of the diesel engine of a big rig.
Tommy said, “It can’t be the
Socialists. They just passed us by.”
Freddie said, “Maybe they
took a back road over and they’re checking the road again.” Tommy shot him a
startled look, then frowned. Freddie shrugged and said, “They ain’t stupid.”
“I don’t think they want to
look for us that bad if all they have to do…”
“Here it comes!” cried
Freddie. Edging toward the ditch, he said, “Do we duck or stick out a thumb?”
Tommy held his breath, looked
at the sun then said, “Stick out your thumb!” as he did exactly that.
Freddie did the same. At
first the truck continued to barrel toward them. Then all of a sudden the gears
ground and the squeal of the air brakes blanketed the countryside, probably
scaring every wild animal into hiding for a twenty mile radius. When the truck
finally came to a rest, a woman’s face poked through the window. “Well bust my
britches, if it ain’t the hikin’ boys from Canada!”
Tommy and Freddie shouted in
unison, “Ed!”
Edwina Olds, Lieutenant, WACS
(ret.) shouted, “Pile on in, boys! I’m headed for Minneapolis.”
They ran around the front of
the semi. Ed yanked on the air horn, startling the boys into hysterical
laughter that kept on as they climbed into the cab. Ed grinned, punched each
boy in the shoulder and said, “So you finally decided to head on back home?”
She busied herself with getting the logging truck back up to traveling speed.
Tommy and Freddie looked at
each other, then Tommy turned to her and blurted, “The Socialists are on their
way to kill my mom and steal a portrait!”
Ed didn’t react at all,
upshifting once more and then goosing the engine until they were rumbling along
fairly smoothly. She glanced at them then said, “Remember what I said when I
dropped you off in Thunder Bay?” They looked at each other. Ed grunted, then
said, “‘It’s been a fine trip and the two of you’se have made an otherwise
boring drive one of uncommon adventure.’”
“I remember that,” said
Tommy.
“Yeah, well, it seems that
we’ve got a little more ‘uncommon adventure’ still ahead of us.”
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