CAMPING OUT

  When I was a teenager I used to camp out with my best friend Gus Fowler who lived on Greenwood Avenue in a big white house the next street over from our house on McKennie. We would camp out regardless of the weather or temperature because his father worked for the ATF and let us use his government sleeping bags that kept us warm as toast in the winter. Many of our friends camped out with us. I had a paper route and my papers were dropped off early, at Company 18 Fire Hall on Gallatin Road. They would help me deliver my route which we delivered on foot or by bicycle. We would usually have them delivered by daylight. My most memorable night was the night that my Aunt Didi grounded me for something I had done and of  course I couldn't camp out. I was determined to get my way, however; and went to bed fully dressed. After everyone was asleep I eased out of bed and for what seemed like an eternity I quietly unlocked the door. Just as slowly and carefully I locked the door back and ran through the back yard and down to the alley past the barn. That's when I nearly ran over a cop that was waiting to intercept me out of sight at the corner of the barn.

  There was a church across the street and many times cops would park there talking with other officers or sitting there alone in their patrol cars. Unknown to me this police officer watched my every move as I snuck out of the house. He immediately asked me what I was doing. I was so scared that my mouth was moving but nothing was coming out. When I finally found my voice I sounded like a little girl because it was so high pitched. I told him the truth. Over the years I have learned that if you are honest with cops the outcome will usually be better. I told him that I had been grounded and that is why I was sneaking out of my house. He must have believed me because he sternly told me to go back home and if he caught me out again I would be going to jail. I don't know if I was more afraid of getting arrested or getting caught by my Aunt Didi. Somehow I made it back in the house without waking anyone up. Didi never knew anything about this until years later when I confessed at a family gathering. She got a good laugh out of it.