Running away from home

 

 I hid on the second floor of the Reading Public Library, sitting on a hard wooden chair reading The Man with the Golden Arm. There was a window looking over the parking lot where my college roommate would appear. She was coming from Springfield in answer to my plea.

That morning I went to work at Pleasure Island, a small version of Disneyland as normal, but quit. I left my car  with the keys under the seat. I took a taxi to the library.

The night before, I had arranged with Betty to pick me up. Another college friend, Paul, would call my mother around five to tell her I was okay, but I wasn't coming home. He would tell her that the car with the keys was in the Pleasure Island Parking lot.

I was running away to marry my fiancé and high school sweetheart. He was stationed with Naval School of Music in Washington, D.C. My mother had forced me to break my engagement.

Betty's father worked at the Tampax factory. They made it clear I was very welcomed, but when a call to Paul told me the police were looking for me and there was a warrant for my arrest as a stubborn child, they suggested I find someplace else.

I called my father. We'd just begun to get reacquainted after my parents' divorce a decade before. He met me in an Arby's parking lot near Betty's home.

My stepmother was welcoming but made it clear she was afraid of what my mother might do. My stepmother and father had as close to an ideal marriage as was possible. Paul knew I had transferred to my father's and had revealed my location under police questioning.

The Scituate Police came to the door. They let my father drive me to the station rather than embarrass him in front of the neighborhood. The Reading Police picked me up at the Scituate Police station. I knew the cop well. It was Herb Perry who had driven me to kindergarten. He'd been a taxi driver prior to joining the force. He listened to my side of the story, but there was nothing he could do.

My father had checked with his lawyer. They decided it be best if I go through the hearing before the judge and promise to go back to university in two weeks.

Which was what I did. After registering at university, I eloped. But that's another story.