Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
just like that.” Horner drank his beer sadly. “It's really frustrating. I mean, have you ever
tried to watch American TV without dope?”
“It must be tough,” I agreed.
“Dortmeier gave me the name of his supplier so I could go and get some myself. Well, this
guy was in Kansas City. I had no idea. So I drove all the way down there, just to buy a
couple of ounces of pot, and it was crazy. The house was full of guns. The guy kept look-
ing out the window like he was expecting the police to tell him to come out with his hands
up. He was half convinced that I was an undercover narcotics officer. I mean here I am,
a thirty-five-year-old family man, with a college education and a respectable job, I'm 180
miles from home and I'm wondering if I'm going to get blown away, and all so that I can
just have a little something to help me get through 'Love Boat' reruns on TV. It was too
crazy for me. You need somebody like Dortmeier for a situation like that-somebody with
a lust for drugs and no brain.” Horner shook the beer can by his ear to confirm that it was
emptyandthenlookedatme.“Youwouldn'tbyanywildchancehaveanydopewithyou?”
he asked.
“I'm sorry, John,” I said.
“Shame,” said Horner and went out to the kitchen to get us more beers.
IspentthenightinHorner'sspareroomandinthemorningstoodwithhimandhispleasant
wifeinthekitchendrinkingcoffeeandchattingwhilesmallchildrenswirledaboutourlegs.
Life is odd, I thought. It seemed so strange for Horner to have a wife and children and a
paunchandamortgageandtobe,likeme,approachingtheclifffaceofmiddleage.Wehad
been boys for so long together that I suppose I had thought the condition was permanent.
I realized with a sense of dread that the next time we met we would probably talk about
gallstone operations and the relative merits of different brands of storm windows. It put
me in a melancholy mood and kept me there as I reclaimed my car from its parking space
downtown and returned to the highway.
I drove along old Route 6, which used to be the main highway to Chicago, but now with
Interstate S0 just three miles to the south, it is all but forgotten, and I hardly saw a soul
alongitslength.Idroveforanhourandahalfwithoutmuchofathoughtinmyhead,justa
wearyeagerness togethome,toseemymom,tohaveashower,andnottotouchasteering
wheel for a long, long time.
Des Moines looked wonderful in the morning sunshine. The dome on the state capitol
building gleamed. The trees were still full of color. They've changed the city completely-
