Oct 23 2008
My First Time: To Run Away From Home
My First Time to Run Away From Home lasted all of two hours and (perhaps) ten blocks.
My friend Joe, who was a 7th grader, instigated this great adventure. He was ALWAYS talking about running away from home. I really had no concept of this, but I was only a 4th grader, so Joe was a really much older guy that I looked up to.
His main complaint was that his parents kept him working in the yard all day, every day, during the summer vacation.
So…one day when he was in trouble for not working, he came over and wanted me to go with him. Okay, sure! We rode our bikes about six blocks away and then started up “Altamont Hill” which is located in Spokane, Washington. Altamont was a really steep street and we maybe made it half a block before we had to get off our bikes and walk. (There were no “gears” on boys’ bike back in those days, (1956), and we were pretty exhausted by the time we had climbed another couple of blocks up the hill.
We had no plans, no food, no water, no blankets,…well, I decided I had enough of this and told him we needed to quit for today and make better plans next time.
Turns out there was no “next time.” At supper that night, my sister mentions to our parents that Joe and I were running away from home. My Dad casually reached over and “removed” the hamburger and mustard sandwich that I was eating, and put it down on his plate. I cried out, of course, and he informed me that there would be no food for me if I was leaving; and that I could figure out how to feed myself. That did it. I was a hungry, growing boy. and never again “ran away.”
Next day I told Joe that he would be on his own. I don’d recall that he ever did get around to running away. For a seventh grader, he turned out to be a big chicken.
