He sat quietly alongside the edge of the road under the shade of his wide brimmed straw hat. Still vain at that age, he was surprised he had kept his mothers parting gift, but being in the country brought out his developing practical trait.
The pickup stopped well past and he had to run a long distance while the driver discussed the decision with the passenger. In the back, with him and his pack, was a full rack of children. All five laughed out loud over the broken muffler, as his straw hat blew off his head and out onto the pavement. Short life that hat.
Short ride also, as the truck pulled in to the first tavern that surfaced on the landscape. Ralph, as he called himself, needed a short pit stop. He sat with the kids in the truck, but ran out of small talk quickly. Just as soon as we were on our way, the truck pulled in and stopped, at another watering hole. And with each stop, Ralph said less and stumbled more, with an angry tone building. The wife was silent through the entire ordeal. Over the twelve miles to the next town, his original destination, the pickup stopped at five taverns, over four hours. He may have explored other options but were he not gripped by Pirsigs fabulous novel Zen and the Art……
The sun was setting when Ralph rumbled the truck to a stop in the front yard of his farmhouse. In a minute everyone scattered. He thought it was just a few miles to town and he figured to start walking. Suddenly, the oldest boy, thirteen, came around the back of the barn driving a rusty Oldsmobile. He waved for him to jump in and he would drive him into town. This old car had no shocks or struts and was a bobbin’ and weavin’ across the grass between other abandon cars, until we hit the pavement.
Without much size, the boy would give up the little visual he had when he would sink down to depress the accelerator to the floor. He talked nervously most the ride about his father “being alright,” cept after noon, when the bottle would git em. By now though the old man was snoring and the kids would be playing, or driving.
djs
