During the summer between his junior and senior year in high school, my older brother somehow convinced our parents that it would be okay for them to allow him and his high school buddy to hitchhike from our home in Kansas City to Chicago to stay there and work for the summer. My mother did have a brother in Chicago, who said he would watch out for them.
With parental permission, the pair set out to hitchhike to Chicago. They had good luck, needing only a few rides to make it all the way there. The uncle called the next morning, saying “They’re here, and they start work tomorrow.” He had lined them up a job in a local warehouse. They worked full time in the warehouse that summer, earning extra money, and because there was a large contingent of 2nd generation Italian immigrants working at the warehouse, they also learned to cuss fluently in Italian—a skill which was passed on to me when they returned home.
When it came time to return home, they set out to hitchhike back to KC. The first guy who picked them up was a preacher who took the duty of hospitality to heart. As they got closer to his own destination, he told them, “I’m not going all the way to KC, but after we get to my house, you can take the car and drive the rest of the way to your home. I’ll be coming down that way in a few weeks to pick it up.” It was an offer they were glad to accept. So they exchanged contact information and drove the preacher’s car the rest of the way home, and explained to our parents that no, nothing was amiss—it was a loaner from a preacher. Sure enough, two weeks later, he showed up at our house and picked up the car. It didn’t seem all that outrageous at the time, but I guess it was. But it all worked out. Still, my brother and his buddy did a number of outrageous things.
