102022c

It has been a long time since I had a dream set in the old house, but I lived there until I was 17. I remember one time I was sent to my room, climbed out the window, and tiptoed down the driveway. Not literally. I walked down below the house, where anyone could have looked out the living room window and seen me, but they did not. Walked to where they were constructing the I-64 bypass. A year before we had walked the cleared route, and found Jack-in-the-Pulpits, exposed to the sun because the trees were gone. I don't remember when it was completed, but I was probably in my early teens. Yes, I was running away. I sat there at the end of the unfinished bridge over the old highway, convincing myself that I could easily walk across one of those stout concrete beams. I think it was true. But I also was thinking about what I would do after that. How would I get food? Money? Perhaps I was lucky that it was 3/4 mile from my house to that place. It gave me time for second thoughts. I decided that I could take it at home after all, and I turned around and started walking. I was halfway home when I met my dad, got in the van, and we went home. I don't think anything more was ever said about it. They were probably so glad that I decided not to run away on my own. I don't think I would have been that quiet about it if I had been my father. Luckily, my kids never tried, so I never found out.