I came out of Macbeth hollow one morning on my way to school and met two girlfriends of mine. We were all thirteen years old and never been to a big city. They said they were running away from home and asked me if I wanted to go with them. I asked them which big city they were going to and they said to Huntington, the biggest city we knew. [Here’s a quick fact: in 2010, Logan had a population of 1,779 and Huntington had 49,138. In the 1950’s, Logan’s population was 2,029 and Huntington was at its highest at 86,000.] Now I had heard my parents say many times how the streets in a city were made out of gold. All the people we knew who grew up and move away, came back to Rum Creek saying how much money you could make in a big city. Dad said it must be because the streets were made out of gold. I’ve always wanted to go and get some for my family. But I knew if I went with my friends now, Dad would kill me. So I came up with this plan where they would tie my hands behind my back with a scarf that way I could say they forced me to go with them. But we had to pass by the school to get out of the hollow and a teacher saw us. It was real hard running with my hands tied behind my back. After we passed the school, they untied me.
I had three dollars in scrip on me which Mom had given to me for school pictures so I was the only one who had any money. We had walk about twenty miles to get to Logan which was on our way to Huntington. When we got there, my friend knew of a store that bought scrip so we could have money to spend.
Meanwhile, the teacher reported us to the principal (who thought he was God himself) this man always showed up at your house if you didn’t go school and made you get ready while he waited for you and then he would take you to school in his car. He went to Mom and told her we were seen running past the school and thought we were running away. Mom panicked and called Dad out of the mines. They could’ve caught us easily if they had a car as we were walking.
We walked out of Rum Creek and got onto the main road to Huntington when a car slowed and a man asked us if we wanted a ride, we said no. He followed us all day and when we were about ten miles from Huntington, he stopped again and ask us if we needed a ride. We still said no, but he said we must be tired as we had been walking all day. We had walked about fifty miles. Huntington was sixty miles from Logan. So we agreed to get in the car as we were hungry, tired, and I had to go to the bathroom real bad. One friend and I got in the back seat and the other girl was in the front seat, and we could see the city from the car windows.
But then sense hit us and we began to get worry, so we told him to let us out, we had changed our minds, and wanted to go home. He said saw a police car up ahead and if one of us would agreed to stay and go to Ohio with him then he would stop and give the other two to the policeman. But we had to choose which one was going to stay with him or he wouldn’t let any of us go. My friend and I chose the girl in front to stay behind. He explained when he stopped he was going to say she was his sister and we weren’t to say she wasn’t. He told the policeman his sister and him had picked up two runaway girls and was handing them over to him. My friend and I got out of his car, leaving our friend in the front seat as he drove away.
We got in the back seat of the police car while and the policeman spoke to us. He got on his car radio and asked if they had a missing report on two runaway girls, they come back on and said they had a report on three missing girls from Logan. Boy, did he shout at us then! He asked if our friend was the other girl in the car, we broke down and told him everything. He said we might have just cost her life, then he kept mumbling that he should have checked before he let the man drive away. The policeman took us to a detention home for teenagers, a place where you were held while waiting to go to reform school. My friend and I were there about four hours. There were two other girls in with us, they were older than we were, and from the way they talked they were bad.
The policeman called our parents at the neighbor’s house, they were the only one who had a phone, and said they should come and get us right away. Because if they leave us overnight, we would go to trial. The next day was a court day and the Judge would send us to reform school. This Judge sent everybody to reform school who came before him. At least that’s what Mom told me later. While on the phone with my parents, the policeman was informed the other the missing girl was on her way home. The policeman came back to the Detention Center and explained our parents were on their way, our friend had been found, and was now on her way home. My parents had gotten our neighbor to bring them to pick us up. Dad was sober when got me, and when we got home Eloise was there so she talked Dad out of beating me.
The next day my friend and I went down to our other friend's house to ask her how she got home so fast and how she got away from the guy, she told us that since he had been following us all day, he followed us from 9:0 in the morning until 5:0 that evening that is how long we had been walking, he didn't stop for gas so before he cross the bridge into Ohio he had to stop for gas, when he pull into a gas station she jumps out of his car and runs into the gas station tells the owner that she is being kidnapped as soon as she left the car the driver pulls away, and the owner and his wife takes her home. I am thinking boy is she smart I doubt if I would have been brave enough to do that, I think she knew that she was going to get away from him her first chance that she got, that is why she agree to stay behind to save two stupid girls life.
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