On The Road
Mysterious Ways|October - November 2019
I stuck my thumb out into the biting wind. I was somewhere in Utah, trying to hitch a ride as the daylight faded. It was bitterly cold and beginning to snow. I had on a coat and the combat boots I’d worn in Vietnam. But not much else to protect me from the late spring snowstorm.
Tom Kovach
On The Road

It was 1970. I’d served a tour of duty in Vietnam and come home in 1966 with plans to help my dad with our family farm in Minnesota. Maybe go to college and find a career. Instead…I drifted. No reason. Just a vague sense of unease.

Vietnam had left me with nightmares. I was in an artillery unit, the so-called kings of battle. Sometimes our maps were wrong and we ended up shelling our own guys. Once, we accidentally hit a South Vietnamese militiaman. He died alongside his pregnant wife.

I tried to blot out the horrible memories with alcohol and marijuana. Then I tried to outrun the thoughts by moving around. My nine older siblings lived all over the U.S., and I hitched from place to place, finding work on farms or in construction. California, North Dakota, Alaska, Missouri, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada. Wherever I was, I wanted to be somewhere else.

Now I was broke and attempting to get back to Minnesota to see my dad before he died. Can’t remember why I thought it was a good idea to walk along this empty highway in a snowstorm. There’s a lot from that time I don’t remember well.

I’d been walking all day. I’m sure I looked awful. Long, scraggly hair and beard. Dirty clothes. Probably smelled like whatever I’d drunk the night before. I hadn’t eaten all day.

Evening descended. The last bit of dim light vanished. I could barely see. The snow picked up, falling in sheets, whipping my face. It was getting colder by the minute. Was I going to freeze to death on this lonely highway? After all I’d survived?

Denne historien er fra October - November 2019-utgaven av Mysterious Ways.

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Denne historien er fra October - November 2019-utgaven av Mysterious Ways.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA MYSTERIOUS WAYSSe alt
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