Stowaway
The pay phone, on the wall outside of a tiny grocery store, was a short walk from my apartment. In 1980 I was 18 and had been living in a small town in central Arkansas for less than a year. Since anything resembling a cell phone or the Internet existed only Sci-Fi flicks, conversing with anyone not standing next to you consisted of a letter or a phone call. I’d never been a letter writer, they are so slow and I was all about instant gratification at 18. By the time a letter is written, sent and a reply received, so much of life has gone one that the bulk of what the letter or its reply contains is moot. No, it would be a phone call or nothing. Not having a phone at home, a pay phone was a necessary inconvenience and was where I was headed that early June morning. The sun was out and the temperature warm but still lacking Summer’s heat and humidity as I neared the store. Digging into my pockets to retrieve the quarters I had set aside, I dialed mom’s number. Nothing about the call stands out other than the news that my friend Stephanie would be in nearby Little Rock in a few weeks. She …show more content…
Barton Coliseum was located within the fairgrounds and like all fairgrounds, contained a fair share of outbuildings. Several of us headed over to a small building not far from where we had been gathered. From the outside it looked somewhat like a barn. Inside there were wooden bleachers and rows of cat cages covered the floor. We each claimed a space on the bleachers and stretched out for a few hours of sleep. As I laid there going over all I had experienced that day I remembered mom’s suggestion. I didn’t find the idea as absurd as I had a few weeks earlier. I liked the people I had met and they all seemed to be like a big extended family. I realized that more than anything I wanted to be a part of all of this . I dosed off to the sounds of the
The pay phone, on the wall outside of a tiny grocery store, was a short walk from my apartment. In 1980 I was 18 and had been living in a small town in central Arkansas for less than a year. Since anything resembling a cell phone or the Internet existed only Sci-Fi flicks, conversing with anyone not standing next to you consisted of a letter or a phone call. I’d never been a letter writer, they are so slow and I was all about instant gratification at 18. By the time a letter is written, sent and a reply received, so much of life has gone one that the bulk of what the letter or its reply contains is moot. No, it would be a phone call or nothing. Not having a phone at home, a pay phone was a necessary inconvenience and was where I was headed that early June morning. The sun was out and the temperature warm but still lacking Summer’s heat and humidity as I neared the store. Digging into my pockets to retrieve the quarters I had set aside, I dialed mom’s number. Nothing about the call stands out other than the news that my friend Stephanie would be in nearby Little Rock in a few weeks. She …show more content…
Barton Coliseum was located within the fairgrounds and like all fairgrounds, contained a fair share of outbuildings. Several of us headed over to a small building not far from where we had been gathered. From the outside it looked somewhat like a barn. Inside there were wooden bleachers and rows of cat cages covered the floor. We each claimed a space on the bleachers and stretched out for a few hours of sleep. As I laid there going over all I had experienced that day I remembered mom’s suggestion. I didn’t find the idea as absurd as I had a few weeks earlier. I liked the people I had met and they all seemed to be like a big extended family. I realized that more than anything I wanted to be a part of all of this . I dosed off to the sounds of the