In Part one of this
story, I was 6 years old and was hitchhiking home from school – the first
hitchhiking trip of my young life. Part of the way home, a flock of farm geese
was running (waddling) toward me as fast as they could go. I didn’t know what
to think of them…
Well, about the time they got very close, they started
honking, hissing and poking at me in a most unfriendly manner. Jeez, now what? I started backing away
from the oncoming noisy white beasts, and when the first one got to me, the
biggest goose of all, he pecked my leg and wouldn’t let go. What? I’m being eaten by a goose?! In an
instant, the rest of the flock was on me and all these creatures attacked. Why don’t these geese like me??? I didn’t do
anything wrong! I was completely engulfed and overwhelmed by hissing,
pecking geese, each one being about half my size.
The onslaught lasted only a second or two before I kicked
my way free of the attackers and ran like a gazelle down the road. They came
after me, but they were no match for this fleet footed runner. No match at all.
I ran for a hundred feet or so, then stopped and shook my fist at them and told
them what was what – in no uncertain terms.
As I was finishing giving the geese the verbal thrashing
of their lives, a car came around the bend and I stuck my thumb out in hopes of
getting a lift away from the farmland attack geese.
The car stopped! This
is it, I said to myself. My first
ride!
I ran up to the car and opened the door. The man said,
“Young man, are you hitchhiking?”
What a crazy
question. Of course I’m hitchhiking; what did he think? I had my thumb out and
everything. But, I was respectful, Catholic boy and said, “Yes sir, I am
hitchhiking. I’m hitchhiking home from school. Can you please give me a ride?
I’ve walked from St. John the Baptist School in New Brighton, and I think I’m
only about halfway home.”
He smiled at me and said he’d be glad to give me a lift;
get in. So I jumped in his car and we continued north along Long Lake Road
toward my house. The man asked me what my name was. “John Steven Mickman, sir”,
I replied. He wondered if I hitchhiked much and I told him, “No, this was my
first time. Thank you for picking me up, sir.” He was pretty surprised that
such a young boy would be hitchhiking, but I told him that my dad used to
hitchhike all the time. He said that maybe my dad had been older when he was
hitchhiking. “Maybe you are still too young to be hitchhiking? Don’t you think
you could get hurt by something?” the man asked.
“Well gee, I don’t know how I could get hurt. I was just
going down the road. I’ve seen lots of people doing it”, I explained to the
man. Maybe he was talking about the geese
that had attacked me, I wondered. That
is certainly something to be careful of the next time I hitchhike anywhere.
Mental note: ‘Watch out for geese when hitchhiking.’ I didn’t tell the man he was correct about
being hurt by something - that I had had a run-in with geese just before he
picked me up.
The man and I kept talking, but I changed the subject to
school and my friend Cris Archibald who went to Rice Creek Elementary. “That’s
where I want to go to school but my mom says St. John the Baptist is a better
school”, I explained. That was the major topic of conversation as we rode along
together, until I told him that I had to get off at the next turn.
Then he suggested that maybe he would drive me all the
way to my house! “Well, that would be great”, I said. So he made the left hand turn
on Rice Creek Road and I guided him along the way toward home. This was working out much better than I had
imagined, and in spite of walking about halfway and doing battle with the
geese, I wasn’t much the worse for wear, and I wouldn’t be home much later than
if I had taken the bus. Neat. Maybe I’ll do this every day!
When the man and I arrived home, much to my surprise, he
parked his car and said maybe he would say hello to my mother. That sounded
just fine with me. “My mom is really nice. I’m sure she’d like to meet you
sir”, I said with a smile. I was pretty pleased with myself, hitchhiking home,
making a new friend with this man and all.
As my new buddy and I walked up the front walk to the
house, my mom came out on the front step to greet us. “May I help you sir?” she
asked the man.
“Yes ma’am”, he replied. “This is young John, and he says
this is his house. Is that right?”
My mom looked at me, then back at the man and asked,
“Yes, this is my son. Why was he in your car?”
Holy smokes, I thought
to myself. This doesn’t sound very good. I better say something, and fast.
“Mom, I was just hitchhiking from school and this man gave me a ride all the
way home. Pretty neat huh?” There, that
should solve any emerging problem with the situation, I thought to myself.
“That’s right ma’am”, the man said. “He is just a boy and
I was concerned that he was in some kind of trouble when I saw him by himself out
there on the road. Don’t you think he is a little young to be hitchhiking?” Hmmm, I thought to myself. I thought the man
and I had gotten past that subject.
My mom looked relieved at that point and agreed that I
was MUCH too young to be hitchhiking. “My husband and John are going to have a
serious conversation about this when he gets home from work”, my mom said to
the man – as she looked at me with a stern look. “I will make sure this never
happens again”, she told the man.
WHAT IS SHE SAYING!
Holy smokes; this is no good! I
could hardly believe my ears! My dad used
to hitchhike all the time; why can’t I???
“Well, I’m glad you agree ma’am. I was really concerned.
Young John here is a nice boy and I’d hate to hear about him getting into any
kind of trouble”, the man said to my mom. Trouble?
What trouble? Had he seen the geese coming after me?
The man and my mom talked for awhile longer, but I tuned
out, wondering what my dad was going to say when he got home from work. I
really didn’t think he would be mad. As a matter of fact, I had been thinking
he would be proud of me. What a strange turn of events!
Finally, the man looked at me and shook my hand. “It was
a pleasure meeting you, John. You’re an interesting boy. But, I do not want to
see you hitchhiking anymore”, he said to me. Huh! I
thought to myself. We’ll just see about
that after my dad comes home. I had had a really nice afternoon – an adventure!
My dad always arrived home from work just before 5:00 PM,
every single day, and at exactly 5:00 PM every single day, our family ate
dinner, all 7 of us. On this day, when we sat down for dinner, my hitchhiking escapade
was the big topic of conversation. “Yes dad, I did hitchhike home, but it
wasn’t a problem. I got a ride from a nice man and he drove me all the home. I
want to do it again. Can’t I please hitchhike home again dad? I don’t like
riding on the school bus anymore”, I implored.
My dad was kind of an unusual character (I guess is the
way one could say it), and he thought that I should be able to continue
hitchhiking. But, my mom would have none of it; no 6 year old son of hers was
going to be hitchhiking all over the place. No Way. Not a possibility. Not
going to happen.
Mom and dad had disagreements, as most couples do, and
much of the time my dad won; but not this time. Mom won this one. I was told not to hitchhike home anymore.
But, as it turned
out, the school term was almost over, and in the summertime I had no place to
go anyway, so I didn’t need to hitchhike. My friend Cris and I had plenty to do
without leaving our neighborhood, what with baseball, fort building, throwing
rocks, fishing, exploring down at Rice Creek and everything.
But, the next year I was a 2nd grader. I was
much older and wiser in the ways of the world. I started hitchhiking again,
always wary of marauding, attack geese – and any other unfamiliar perils.
* *
* * *
I continued hitchhiking for another 20 years.
Some of these trips were the best times of my life and I met many unforgettable
characters during these excursions. Any good adventure has a certain amount of
discomfort and risk involved, otherwise they wouldn’t call it an adventure. Right?
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