Story telling

[Ripsnort]

Wow!
And kidnapped? You have to tell THAT story!

[BaldEagl]

OK.  You asked for it.

I was I my 20's, going to college and working part time to support myself.  For work I was the janitor at a railroad yard office.  I worked for a janitorial service company rather than as a railroad employee.  The job could be done at any time of day as long as it was done once a day.  The job itself took about two hours to complete and no matter what, I got paid for four hours for going there and doing it.  The time commitment vs pay combined with the flexibility made it a nearly ideal job for a college student.

My dad had bought a new car and handed down the family wagon.  It was a 1968 Chevy Impala wagon with one of the the Corvette 327's putting out something like 340 HP.  It was pretty damn fast for a non descript wagon.

So one day I'm headed off to work, a short drive across town, most of which was on the freeway.  As I approached the ramp to the freeway there were two young girls standing at the freeway entrance hitch hiking.  Being the good Samaritan that I am I stopped to give them a ride.  As they were sliding into the front seat beside me my back door opened and two black guys slipped into the back seat.  I'd barely noticed them sitting on a bus stop bench just around the corner from the girls.

One of them immediately slid in behind me and put a knife to my neck and ordered me to start driving.  Now normally I'd be headed west to work but they wanted to go south so rather than making my normal freeway change I just continued the way we were going.  Being the poor college student that I was my hot rod wagon was running on fumes so as we hit the outer edge of the suburbs they told me to stop for fuel, threatening to kill me if I tried anything during the stop.

There was a gas station just off the freeway and as I pulled in to a stop the girl next to me remained where she was, the guy behind me remained where he was, knife in hand.  The other guy and girl got out, trading places leaning against my drivers door while the guy pumped gas and the girl ran in to pay.  Fueled up we were back on our way. 

Passing the last vestiges of the city and out on the open road we were about twenty minutes out when one of the guys spotted a thick grove of trees beside the freeway and, after a brief discussion about dragging me out there they told me to stop the car.  I did.

The told me to hand hem the keys and as the guys opened the door they made the mistake of both getting out of the passenger side of the car, probably to avoid opening the drivers side door to traffic, and as they did I opened my own door (at this point I didn't care if a passing car ripped the door off) and bolted across the southbound lanes for the center median, also lined with trees.  I heard them yell "run him over" and just as I reached the median ditch they sped past me barely missing me as I ran.

I crossed the median through the trees and was standing in the middle of the northbound lanes waving my arms hoping someone would stop to help me.  About the second or third car did.  I hopped in and was excitedly relating my story when I saw a state patrol car on the very first overpass we came to.  The driver brought me straight there and I jumped into the squad car telling my story again.  The trooper got on the radio describing my car and the occupants then brought me directly to the closest station where I related my story yet again.

They caught the perpetrators within 15-20 minutes of me first getting into the squad car and the troopers at the station told me it looked a little like a scene from Bonnie and Clyde as they surrounded them.  The cops wanted to impound my car as evidence but after pleading my case they relented and let me drive it home.

I did end up finding out the names of my captures.  The girls were both under age so suffered no long term repercussions but the guys were both legal age.  I'm not sure how she got it but a mother/grandmother/aunt of one of the guys called me at home pleading with me to drop the charges because her son was "a good boy".  I had no sympathy for her and that was the last I heard about it.  I never had to appear in court.  I don't know what happened with the guys.  I just wanted to put it behind me but I never picked up another hitch hiker after that day.

[Zoney]

In 1973 my beloved father gave me a new '73 mustang,  At the time his car was a 1972 454 Corvette with T-tops in silver.  He had had side pipes installed on the car and it was not running quite right so he told me to jump in my Stang and follow him in to the Twin Cities from Hudson Wisconsin where we lived to take it back to the tuner to have it tidied up.  It was about a 30 minute drive.  We were on a 2 lane highway when I noticed a car coming up behind me and even from a distance it looked sporty.  When it got nearer I could see it was a Jaguar XKE convertible in British Racing Green, and is it got a bit nearer, I saw that it was a fantastic looking Red-headed woman.  She didn't get too terribly close so I kept trying my best to check her out in the rear view mirror.  The highway didn't have much of a shoulder to pull off of, and when my father slowed down and stopped for a hitchhiker, (you still did that back then), he was still on the road.  Now of course I didn't notice this because I was intently checking out the babe behind me and doing some serious fantasizing...........WHAM!  I rear ended my dad, totaling both cars.  I did have a seatbelt on and no one was hurt but I had smacked my nose on the steering wheel and was bleeding pretty good.  I could hear my dad screaming swear words as he sat in his Vette unable to open the jammed door.  Of course the next car that comes along has to be a cop, I mean what else could it possibly be.  He bent down and looked at me through the window and asked if I was alright and I said yes.  He said, "let me check out the guy you hit, I'll be right back.  My dad is still cursing up a storm and I see him hand the officer his license, as the officer yanks the door open so he can get out.  He  tells m dad "stay right here, do not walk back to the other car sir" The officer walks back to me and says, "son, just say in your car, that guy in the corvette is madder than hell and it will only be trouble so just stay put". He asks for my license and I give it to him.  Mine says Richard E. Stratton Jr. and as he puts it next to my dad's license I see his eyes get real wide, because of course my dad's says, "Richard E. Stratton".  He looks at me and says, "That's your dad isn't it".  "Yes", I say.  He takes both licenses off the clipboard and hands them to me as he says "You're on your own kid.................and walks back to his car and leaves......................

[Ripsnort]

LOL Zoney! Holy toejam! Funny now, but I bet not at the time!

The only major accident I've had other than my motorcycle wreck was when a buddy stop his car in the middle of the road in 1976 near Stacy, MN "To look at deer in the field" I had my GF in the car and naturally I was distracted, totally not expecting someone to stop on a major highway without first pulling off to the shoulder.

I did manage to slow down from 60 mph to 30 locking the brakes up though. Still, both cars totaled. (we both drove beaters in the day)

[Zoney]

Rip, my father loved to tell that story so many many times later on.  He was always smiling as he re-told it over and over again.  He was a generous and forgiving man even though he could certainly get angry with me for my foolishness.

[MrKrabs]

When I first moved to Florida when I was still a Tween...

I loved fishing and I thought HEY! I'll go do some surf fishing on a nice beach...

So it was that, a nice day calm surf and plenty of fish... However I did not account for one thing... THE SUN

OH no it wasn't the sunburn on my neck arms and any other "normal" place... It was on my feet...

I did not account for the properties of salt water and extended exposure to the sun in any regard and boy did I get it. This was not just sunburn this was the mother of all sun blisters. I went to the doctor with small blisters that simply got bigger and bigger. As I sat in the office my mother and nurse just stared in entertainment as they watched them grow bigger and bigger right in front of their eyes into one massive blister that completely covered each foot... The doctor walked in and when a doctor just turns around and leaves in disbelief I would think it would be considered an accomplishment...

That's not all... FRESHMAN YEAR OF HIGHSCHOOL walking around in loose flip-flops with these mounds of gauze covering the trimmed blisters.... Yeah... I never been so self-conscious in my life looking like that...

[Ripsnort]

Keep a close eye on any changing moles, MrKrabs as you age. Those that have had a severe sunburn are more likely to develop melanoma later on in life according to an article I read on the AMA. 

[Bizman]

Keep a close eye on any changing moles, MrKrabs as you age. Those that have had a severe sunburn are more likely to develop melanoma later on in life according to an article I read on the AMA.

Yep, my uncle used to be the goalkeeper of their soccer team. Numerous matches without using a cap are the reason he now has a deep scar the size of a big coin on his forehead as a result of some cancer operation. Melanoma of some sort, I suppose.