Go West Young Man WC: 290

Go West Young Man
WC 290

Artie and I were in the woods after dark, escaping; we had really messed up.

My bloody calf was killing me. I stopped to rest.

“If they catch us, Roy, you know we're dead, right?”

“I’m wounded.”

“Suck it up,” Artie said and ran on ahead.

“This was your idea, Artie!”

“You went along with it, so you are just as guilty!”

Okay, so here's the short version: We broke into National Bank, after closing. The guard saw us. We ran; he ran after us and shot me in the leg. And now, here we were, at the edge of the woods…in big trouble.

“I’m not moving,” I said.

My dad told me over and over not to hang around with Artie. “Something’s not right with that Spencer kid.” But, of course, I didn’t listen. I liked Artie Spencer, and he was just about my only friend...but he was a little off.

“Okay, okay!” Artie headed back.

A railroad track skirted the forest.

“How ‘bout we follow the tracks,” I said. “Once my dad’s snowmobile got stuck in the middle of nowhere, and he followed the tracks to the closest town.”

“That's just what they would expect us to do. Got any other brilliant ideas, Roy.”

“Well, what's your solution, Artie?”

“I think we should hop that freight.”

A freight train was coming down the track real slow.

“We still have one semester before we graduate,” I said.

“I mean now. You know, never see our families again and just end up in California, in the movies or something.”

Long story short, Artie hopped that freight going West; I followed the tracks east to the closest town. I got in big trouble; I heard he landed a movie deal.