I’ve took Advantage Of You
I Used you Selfishly
Bike Trip
Madison, Wisconsin
Mike was holding Issac Hayes' album cover, talking with
Nate, as Hayes' music blared over the stereo speakers. I was glad
Mike had found somebody to talk to. Every once in a while, Mike
would sound like a broken record. I settled back with a cold beer,
in a comfortable chair, feeling safe behind bolted doors. I was
happy with everything, even the music. I wasn't into Hayes like Mike
though. His black friends in Vietnam had turned him on to old Issac.
I know, because he had told me so many times.
I was feeling lucky. I couldn't help but feel that way after
listening to what the protesters were angry about at the rally. The
guys over in Nam weren't lucky. The North Vietnamese soldiers
weren't lucky either. At the rally, one of the protesters was
carrying a sign that read, "In defense of freedom no defeat is
possible, only victory – Ho Chi Mien." I guess, just like there's
more than one kind of "truth," there's more than one kind
of "freedom" too. The Vietcong surely must be determined fighters;
otherwise we would have won the war long ago, right? Apparently, the
Vietcong were fighting for their own kind of "truth." In their war,
the predator was America. I couldn't understand what was happening
over there in any other way. That's the only conclusion I could come
up with.
Tomorrow I'm going to the University of Wisconsin to apply for a
custodian job. My reasons for doing so are changing as I write. In
the beginning, I wanted to saturate myself in book learning,
academic discussions, and art appreciation (if not the actual
creation of art itself). Instead of paying the university for the
privilege of an education, the university would pay me – a hell of
an idea. But now, I think there is another reason why I want to
become a custodian. I do not want to contribute to the predatory
instincts that dominate my own society. I do not want to add my "two
cents" to a money-grubbing value system that exists to glamorize and
to out- glamorize the glamorous. Give me a broom and leave me alone.
Let those who can pay the price wallow in their glamour. I hope they
choke on it. Me, I just want to eat, sleep, and be left alone; that
is, as long as I'm left alone at a university.
The next day, we went looking for Denny back at the Capital. It
wasn't `till late afternoon that we finally found him. Denny had
also found a safe house the night before. Apparently, he was in no
hurry to leave it, either. We started biking out of the city around
dark, but we didn't get far. We stopped as soon as we found a safe
place to camp. On my bike radio, we heard on the news that three
pigs got blown away during the Madison riot. The University of
Wisconsin was a very radical campus.
May 13
Fifteen miles out of Madison I noticed the noise coming from my bike
was getting worse. When I investigated, I found two broken spokes
and a rear wheel that was not very true. We couldn't fix the
problem, so Denny and Mike continued riding on to the little town of
Spring Green while I hitched back to Madison to get my wheel
repaired. I left all my stuff, except my bike wheel, at a friendly
farmer's house and then started to hitch back to Madison. By early
evening I was back on the highway bicycling west, but when I got to
Spring Green I couldn't find Mike or Denny. I spent hours looking
for them before I finally crashed at a wayside.
In the morning I began my search again. I was not happy. After my
third time at the city park (the last time because if I didn't find
them I was splitting), I found Mike with his bike torn apart. The
problems he was having kept them from getting to our prearranged
destination. We weren't going anywhere and I was getting sick of all
the hassle these bikes were causing (much of it not mentioned) and
the extra expenses that kept cutting into my budget. I was ready to
ship my bike home on the next bus, and start hitchhiking west. In
fact, if I had one more breakdown, that was exactly what I was going
to do!
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