Easy—get a ticket to anywhere and get out of town before they realize I’m gone.Grand central station as a buzz as I entered.I was trying to avoid the cops.
Well, actually I was trying to avoid pretty much anyone who could recognize me. Cops or otherwise. I needed to get out of town in a hurry. It really didn’t matter where. But I much preferred somewhere warm. I wasn’t too keen on hiding out in a frozen tundra.
I found an empty ticket window. The old geezer behind it looked like I’d just woken him up from hibernation.
Florida I told him.
“Where in Florida?” The voice sounded as bored as one could and still be awake. I hoped that boredom translated into him not remembering me.
“The Keys,” I told him the only thing I could think of in Florida.
He found a stack of notes, pulling down his half-frame reading glasses, he bent to read the tiny print on the list of destinations.
“No such place.” He straightened up. Looked at me like I was an idiot for not knowing that the keys weren’t a destination.
I thought quickly.
“How about Sarasota?”
“Yep, that’ll do.”
“Okey give me a one-way ticket to Sarasota Florida. Please.”
“Can’t do that.”
“Huh?”
“ Last train just left. They’re closing that line down as of this trip. Your ten minutes late.”
“What do you mean closing that line down?”
“I don’t know. I just do what they tell me to. “
“Okay, where in Florida can I go?”
“Florida State penteitnary?”
That instant I felt a movement behind me. Two big burly cops stood just behind me with their guns drawn and pointed at me.
“We were nice. We let you chose where you were going to jail.” One said.
Well, actually I was trying to avoid pretty much anyone who could recognize me. Cops or otherwise. I needed to get out of town in a hurry. It really didn’t matter where. But I much preferred somewhere warm. I wasn’t too keen on hiding out in a frozen tundra.
I found an empty ticket window. The old geezer behind it looked like I’d just woken him up from hibernation.
Florida I told him.
“Where in Florida?” The voice sounded as bored as one could and still be awake. I hoped that boredom translated into him not remembering me.
“The Keys,” I told him the only thing I could think of in Florida.
He found a stack of notes, pulling down his half-frame reading glasses, he bent to read the tiny print on the list of destinations.
“No such place.” He straightened up. Looked at me like I was an idiot for not knowing that the keys weren’t a destination.
I thought quickly.
“How about Sarasota?”
“Yep, that’ll do.”
“Okey give me a one-way ticket to Sarasota Florida. Please.”
“Can’t do that.”
“Huh?”
“ Last train just left. They’re closing that line down as of this trip. Your ten minutes late.”
“What do you mean closing that line down?”
“I don’t know. I just do what they tell me to. “
“Okay, where in Florida can I go?”
“Florida State penteitnary?”
That instant I felt a movement behind me. Two big burly cops stood just behind me with their guns drawn and pointed at me.
“We were nice. We let you chose where you were going to jail.” One said.
