Thread: Utopia Bound
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Old 05-11-2019, 08:51 AM
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Default Re: Utopia Bound

Chapter Seven
On the road again
Suddenly Billy said, “Tom, we need to buy some bullets for your gun. I feel much safer knowing it is not empty. Let’s stop at a Seven Eleven store and buy a box of them.” Tom stopped playing the harmonica and shook his head in disbelief.
”Billy, you are more in need of education about guns than I thought possible .First of all I don’t have a gun, I have a revolver, and they’re not bullets, they are cartridges. The bullet is the lead part on the end of a cartridge. We are not in Texas. We are still in the democratic, anti gun, state of Pennsylvania. Federal law prohibits us from buying cartridges here. Especially since us both have been arrested, and we are from out of state... But you are right; we do need to buy some ammunition for my Colt, if for no other reason but to protect you Billy. Saint Joseph had truly better look over us.
Especially if any of my friends found out you want to buy bullets in a convenience store. Where do you buy ammo in a case like ours? We need to find a flea market or a gun show and then we will find someone who doesn’t quite follow the laws and will sell us all the ammo we want. We have two thousand mile to go, and I have no doubt that we will find plenty of “bullets” once we cross the Mason /Dixon line.”
The very idea that Billy was going to be driving for another week was too much, and he said so. “Tom if we have such a long trip ahead of us and I am doing all the driving .I want to enjoy it, we are not in a marathon, we have money enough for the trip now, and no one is waiting for us in Utopia. Let’s take our time and see the country .I have never been more than fifty miles from where I was born and for the first time in my life I am free .If you are in agreement, I want to stop at flea markets, antique shows, and fairs-.I want to see anything that is part of America’s culture.
And that includes historic sites and anything else we discover along the way. And right now I want to stop at a shopping mall and buy a portable radio for me, and Gimpy a collar with a leash so I can take her for walks a couple of times a day.”
Tom sat in silence as he thought Billy’s demands over. He under stood that their age differences caused them to think very differently. He had seen all of the country and parts of the world he wanted, and was ready to go to Utopia as fast as possible. Then he remembered how much he liked to travel when he was younger.
He said “Billy, you are driving and you have the money, which gives you the right to decide. But I am older, wiser, and have more experience, so we will make a compromise. You can stop anywhere you want to, as long as it is not in large cities, I cannot tolerate them...
The matter was settled; they drove southwest, listening to country music on a new portable radio. Gimpy, wearing her new collar sat on Tomīs lap watching the country side rolling by. They stopped at the historical land marks, flea markets, and at a pawn shop in Kentucky where Tom bought six rounds of ammunition for his Colt.
Now that the weather was warmer and Tom was armed again, they slept in roadside parks.
Tom slept in the camper, and Billy on the front seat with the packsack beneath him. He wondered how much money was in it, and when to tell Tom about it.
They built campfires and cooked meals over the open flames. Then Tom played his guitar, Billy the harmonica, and sang while Gimpy yipped and barked in time to the music. Tom would take his sombrero off and pass it around to the small audience they attracted. They made extra money to buy gas and beans while traveling toward Texas.
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