Midnight down the I-80 | Teen Ink

Midnight down the I-80

June 7, 2015
By TeddieO. GOLD, Rowe, Massachusetts
TeddieO. GOLD, Rowe, Massachusetts
15 articles 0 photos 0 comments

In a pickup truck – Abe, a single father, on the road with his six-year-old daughter.

Abe: See it was Sunday, an’ critters like that cain’t explain why they do the things they do.  They ain’t got the brainpower, baby.  Not like you.  Why, you say?  Weel, it comes with the territory, see?  A guy with nothin’ left but money does some funny things.  Will I?  Naw, sweetheart, I ain’t that kinda man.  Is that why we in this here ol’ pickup, Daddy?  Well now, I ‘spose it is.  See lotsa guys who stay in one place, they go plumb crazy, some.  Enough to forget how to fix it, an’ then they get in a right fix.  That gon’ happen tuh us, Daddy?  Nope, baby girl; not if I can help it, see?  That’s why we out drivin’ this late an’ no atlas no motel in sight no nothin’, just you an’ me an’ this clunky ol’ engine an’ a buncha three-day-ol’ burger wrappings makin’ foil mountains in the backseat.  Yessiree an’ we ain’t got nobody tuh hold us back.  Just you an’ me kiddo, you an’ yer ol’ Daddio.

 

Where we stayin’ t’night, you say?  Well, I reckon we can find us a steakhouse somewhere in Omaha an’ get us a nice steak dinner, an’ then we can find a motel or sump’in an’ if there ain’t one, ‘ts all right; we’ll jus’ sleep right here in the cab, and ain’t nobody can change us a nickel for a good night’s sleep.  No sir; jus’ us now, honey; jus’ you an’ your Pa.

 

Why don’ we just go withum, Daddy?  What we got against those high-topped, low-laced rednecks, anyhow?  Well now, honey, we jus’ ain’t like ‘um, that’s all, an’ people that ain’t like each other are better off jus’ leavin’ each other alone.  Like me an’ Billy?  Yeah, like you an’ Billy, if I guess it my own self.  You jus’ don’t like that boy, don’tcha?  An’ he don’ like you neither, an’ neither one you’s got a clue why, an’ that’s jus’ fine, honey, ‘cause neither one of yuh does the other no harm so long as yuh mind each other in peace.  Yer free tuh let each other alone, an’ tha’ way ain’t nobody gon’ get mad at nobody else, see? 

 

Buh Daddy, Cecil says that if I’m mad at somebody I jus’ oughta lay a hand on ‘im, ain’t that so, an’ the sonofabitch has it comin’ to ‘um, anyhow?  Weel, no, girlie; don’ start out life that way, or you gon’ be ol’ and grey afore you know it, an’ then young Billy’ll have somethin’ real tuh get atcha ‘bout.  Naw, honeygirl, jus’ let the mean ones be real mean, an’ don’tcha say a thing right back, or yer as bad as they are. 

 

What ‘boutchoo, Daddy-doo?  Anybody ever made you so mad you couldn’ help jus’ layin’ a hand on em?  Well no, sweetcakes, ‘cause my Papa taught me when I was real young the same thing I teachin’ you.  Don’t mess with bad people, honeygirl, or bad people gon’ mess with you.  That a steakhouse right up there, Daddy, right up there on the right, with the big lights?  Gee, those lights are big; bigger’n anything I ever seen.  Sure it is, sweetums, but we ain’t goin’ tuh stop there tonight.  No sir, we jus’ gon’ keep drivin’, honeybear, you an’ me an’ this here old Chevy ain’t hardly got the windshields still in.  But what ‘bout dinner, Daddy?  Well, we’ll jus’ keep on goin’, an’ eventually we’s gonna come to a stop, an’ there’ll be somewhere tuh git ourselves a bite.  Ol’ pickup’s jus’ ‘bout run outta gas anyhow.  Yessiree, baby girl.  We jus’ gon’ keep on goin’ till the gas run out.  An’ then what, Daddio?  Well then we’ll stop, honeygirl, and eat us a big burger dinner, jus’ the two of us.  Yessum, a big ol’ burger dinner, jus’ you an’ me an’ the big ol’ blank Kentucky sky.
 


The author's comments:

A monologue.


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