Cross Country Trip – 1968

I had just graduated from college. I
was leaving home to seek my fortune.
Traveling by greyhound from Detroit to
San Francisco.

My sister and I sat on the side of the bathtub talking
about “Come Back Little Sheba”, a movie we had
recently watched on television. Why we
were in the bathroom sitting on the
side of the tub I don’t remember. Something
struck us as funny., although the movie is far
from humorous. We cackled. We chortled. There
was even a guffaw before we began to howl.
Right about then, tears started and the chuckles
turned to tears. Arms around each other,
we managed to bring ourselves under
control and rejoin the household.

I did leave and go to San Francisco for a week or so,
Traveled by train back east to DC where my
sister was in college. Getting a reference from
one of her teachers, I moved on to New York
City where I stayed with a friend of his and got a
clerical job at City University. About that time
a letter from my one true love caught
up with me. After two months on the road, I
caught a plane back to Detroit and began
the rest of my life.

 

 

5 thoughts on “Cross Country Trip – 1968

  1. This works so well as a prose poem. There’s a sense of distance both spatially and in time – being close to siblings then moving away and not sharing the everyday moments with them, not being there for the big moments in their life. I really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing!

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