A Life Wasted

Leaving Alaska

Things were a little crazy at home. While Lady and I were playing with the fish my children drove the Suburban into the local hardware store. Not on purpose, of course. Mary had taken the kids to the hardware store for something, then left the kids in the Suburban to run in real quick. Emily a mature thirteen year old and Mary had parked directly in front of the store, so this shouldn't have been a problem. It was cold, so she left the motor running. To set the scene further, the hardware store had an old fashion rough hung hen wood deck with a wide set of rough wood steps leading up to it. All of this raised about five feet above the parking lot. It was a nice rustic set up.

So one of my younger children pulled the shifter lever and put it into reverse. The Suburban started backwards and ran into the car parked behind us. Emily responded by attempting to pull the shifter into park, but put it into drive instead. When it started moving forward she tried to reach the brake, which was difficult with a baby and car seat in the way, so she pressed down on the accelerator by mistake. The Suburban obediently rushed forward and climbed those wide heavy wood steps, on to the porch and into the plate glass window.

By the time I heard this story Mary was worried over the entire event. There had been a police report and it being a small town, everyone remembered the incident where Cody was injured after Mary left them in the car to run into a shop. Mary's concern was that she would be accused of negligence and the state might attempt to take our children from her. I didn't believe this could happen because I knew just how protective a mother my wife was. I just couldn't imagine anyone viewing her as anything other than the greatest mother ever. Everyone who knew her would agree with my high opinion of her. But Mary had a point. Lots of folks looked down on us for having so many children, which could be a strike against us to some. Plus we home schooled, which a lot of state officials didn't like. Add to this that both police reports looked bad on paper and it was possible some social worker would feel she needed to do something "to protect these poor children."

We both loved Alaska, but the truth was that Alaska had been hard on us. We were broke and we were in deep debt. The boat had many problems I haven't mentioned, enough so that it would need a serious investment to make it safe and capable of fishing again. Not that I wanted to fish again. Plus there was the prospect that we'd need to hire a lawyer, which we couldn't afford. By the time we talked about all of this Mary had already made up her mind that we needed to leave Alaska. There isn't much she couldn't face, but the prospect of losing her children was one of those things. It didn't take much for her to convince me. We packed up what we could and left most of what we owned in the rented house. We also left the boat and my truck. The plan had been for me to come back and settle everything, but that never happened.

It was a hard trip from the beginning, mainly because we were short on cash. The Suburban died on the Illinois Turnpike on the south side of Chicago. We had it towed to a nearby exit into a cheap motel parking lot. We had enough money for two days in the motel, but not enough to repair the Suburban or enough to move the entire family even if we had a place to go, which we didn't.

I can't remember what lie I told Mary when I left the motel room to go for a walk, but I am sure it was a dozy. Maybe she believed me and maybe she didn't, I don't know, but we were desperate so I was going to do something to correct that desperation. I think deep down she had to know this. Mary knew me too well.

Three blocks from the motel was a new car dealer. A big place. I'd dressed well for my walk so no one at the dealership paid attention to me as I walked through their office. It didn't take long to find what I was looking for. The key board was attached to the back of a wall in the sales office. One guy was in the office so I walked by and went to the bathroom. When I walked back by the office was empty, so I reached behind the door and grabbed a set of keys. The model and color of the car were written on the tag, so I walked the lot until I found the car. I got in the car and drove off like I owned it and no one seemed to notice. I'd brought a screw driver, so I found an out of the way parking lot to steal a set of plates. The car only had a quarter tank of gas, so I spent ten precious bucks to add a little. Thus prepared, I looked for an opportunity.