1 Leaving Home . . . Too Early

When I was about three years old, my mother and father got a divorce. My sister, Marilyn, and I were sent to live with a family named Griffy.

They were an older couple and had one daughter, who was about twenty. A number of events happened at the Griffy's which are memorable to me. The Griffy family had a number of goats and chickens. One of the things that Marilyn and I enjoyed doing the most was to go down to the barn and gather eggs and then ride the goats around the corral. I always thought God made goats for riding because they have such neat horns to hang on to.

It was at the Griffy's that I first learned about humming birds. One day the old cat caught a humming bird. I caught the cat, pried open it's mouth and let the bird go. The bird was happy, but the old cat didn't like me much.

I ran away twice while at the Griffy's. There was another boy who was a few years older than I was, who also stayed with the Griffys. One time we decided to run away and go on a journey. I did not know what a journey was, but it sounded very intriguing and so I was very anxious to go. The boy, Jim, told me that I would learn what a journey was and about 4:00 p.m. one day we took off into the woods.

We traveled for quite some time; at least for a three year old. Jim was eight and a self proclaimed man of the world. At least that is what he told me. I kept looking for the journey, but hadn't seen one, when Jim brought our caravan of two to a halt. We decided that since it was getting dark, we should travel back to the house and raid the cellar for something to eat. I thought this was a wonderful idea since we had not had any supper. I asked Jim if we would find the journey that night, and he finally told me what journey meant.

Not being trained at West Point, we were not too sharp on our tactical maneuvering as we approached the house. What I am saying is we were too noisy and the Griffys were waiting for us when we arrived at the house. It seems that could hear us coming about a hundred yards away. We were punished and put to bed; after supper, thank goodness.

We hung pretty close to the house for awhile until one night. Jim and I had gone to bed out on the back porch. Through the window we could see Marilyn and Mrs. Griffy doing the dishes.

When I was nearly asleep Jim came up with a brilliant idea. We would run away and go to Redding; steal an airplane and fly to a small logging town named Burney. We didn't realize that you have to have a license to fly so we sneaked out the back door in our pajamas and took off.

We didn't want to walk the several miles to town so we borrowed my sister's tricycle. That is all that I remembered until we got to Redding.

How we got there or how long it took I do not remember. The next thing I knew, we were being picked up by two policemen in a big car with a flashing light. We would have made a getaway, but the wheel on the tricycle broke and we didn't want to leave it behind. On the way to the police station, I watched a moth crawl around on the back of one of the policeman's head. This was quite interesting to me, but my main concern was how I was going to like being in jail for the rest of my life.

When we got to the police station we had ice cream and a long wait. I was just getting to like the place when the Griffys showed up. It is a good thing the tricycle wheel broke and we were picked up. It frightens me to think of what might have happened if we had reached the airport; especially since neither of us had taken flying lessons.

When we arrived home Jim got a spanking. I got bread and milk, and of course, Marilyn never forgave us for breaking her tricycle. We never did run away again. Jim just didn't want to for some reason. I later wrote the following poem about our experience.

A Lad Of Three

"I'd like to tell you a little tale about a lad of three.

He was a very good boy you know, because the boy was me.

There was another involved, who went by the name of Jim.

Ya see, all the trouble we got into that night was because of him."

"We borrowed my sister's tricycle, an act that was not right,

and dressed in our stripped P.J.'s rode off into the night.

To Redding town we headed; an airplane we would steal;

then on to Burney we would fly; was the friendly deal."

"The serious plan was near fulfilled. By then it was no joke.

One mile from the airport the stupid tricycle wheel broke.

The night was black and scary; our speed we did increase

and just about made it, when we were captured by the police."

"To the station they did take us; two frightened little boys.

The sirens on the police car sure made a lot of noise

A phone call to our parents and our escapade was over,

when we reached home, it was anything but 'clover.'"

"Sore bottoms we did get, which made us very sad,

and my poor sister's tricycle, well . . . my sister still is mad."

Lesson Learned

Sometimes it is better not to be led into mischief by one's peers. There is a time in life to strike out on your own, but hopefully not too soon; especially not at age three. It is kind of fun just to be a kid for awhile . . . and maybe ride a few goats.