Hitchhiker ’ s Nightmare

Down and Out

Stephen Benz

Back in there is where we camped, south of town along the tracks leading from the switching yard. You would think it’ s easy to jump a freight. Not so. You need skill, know-how, good bit of luck.

Along the tracks leading from the switching yard dangers abound; guards bring around bad dogs. To dodge them you need skill, know-how, lots of luck. You ’ re sure to take a beating now and then.

Danger waits wherever you ’ re bound—guards and dogs, hunger and rain, drunken teens. You stay keen, still you get a good beating now and then, and it’ s time to move on down the line,

to more hunger, more rain, more drunk kids keen to mock your misery. “Posted no vagrancy ” means the time has come to move on down the line, jump a boxcar after the watchman passes.

Vagrancy means nothing but mockery, misery, hiding out in wet bushes, a cold night. Wait until the watchman passes, jump on board a boxcar that bangs, skirls, lurches, then stalls on a sidetrack.

Back to the cold wet bushes, waiting all night, thinking about coffee, thinking about dry shoes. A sidetracked life of banging, skirling, lurching, stalling. Least you ’ ve got comrades: Bodie, Ringo, Utah Joe. Chatting about coffee, dry shoes, women, failure. Nothing easy about jumping freight, the drifter ’ s life. You need comrades like Bodie, Ringo, Utah Joe. Back in there is where we camped, south of town.

The Wayne Literary Review: Escapism