And yet Another True Story:  (Those who have read my book A Fine Kettle of Fish will find this familiar.)

            Many years ago a good friend, whom I’ll call Bob, from long ago and I took a road trip. We took off for Centralia, Illinois in my lime green 49 Ford coupe on a summer evening. There was a big party going on, Centralia was only 50 miles away, and a lot of the guys and girls we knew were going. To make a long story short the party was in a honky-tonk dive and a real bust. We met up with a couple of girls (whose names I have contemptuously forgotten) who were looking for a ride back to town – done deal. Somewhere along the Oakaw River bottoms we ran out of gas – how convenient can it get? But we really were out of gas.

            Since poor old Bob was driving at the time he had to go for gas (road trip rule #77) while I stayed to protect the girls – he-he-he. After watching Bob disappear into the darkness the girls told me they were scared and that I should get a tire tool or something out of the trunk – which I did. When I opened the trunk they locked the doors; it dawned on me what they were scared of. No amount of begging, whining, or promising could get those doors opened. I told them that it was cold (80 degrees) and that I would freeze to death; one of them said something about a fate worse than death.

Meanwhile Bob was having some problems of his own; a couple picked picked him up and when he piled into the back seat he found it full of guns. The man turned around and said, “Don’t worry about those they’re not loaded… but this one is.” And he stuck a cannon under Bob’s nose. I’ll wager that my friend was real close to having an accident about then. It seems that there had been some break-ins in some of the fishing cabins in the area and these folks were cleaning theirs out. They took Bob to a station, got the owner to open up, and brought him back safe and sound. He received a hero’s welcome from the girls and I was allowed back into my own car. I have lived happily ever after, I’m pretty sure Bob has as well, and I really don’t give a rip about the happiness or everafterness of those two heartless and selfish girls.

Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High…and now… Blue Norther

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