Chapter Five

 

 

When Denise mentioned that they had to hitch-hike, Amy couldn’t help but think of an article she read about a girl who had thumbed a ride and was later dumped in the desert in the middle of the night after the driver had chopped off her arms.

Denise reassured her. “It’ll be okay. I’m a pretty good judge of character. If the guy looks scary, we won’t get into his car. Besides, who’d want to hurt a pregnant girl?”

“Okay,” Amy said reluctantly. “Too bad Sandy’s already left.”

Both girls made their way to the Newport/Riverside Freeway heading north to Tustin. A lot of the kids from the festival were now in their cars, so the sisters felt a bit less scared about who might be offering them a ride.

The sisters saw a light green 1965 Volkswagen bus whose VW logo on the front has been replaced with a large peace symbol. They liked the peace symbol and stuck out their thumbs. The van pulled over and they saw a teenage boy who was wearing round John-Lennon-type-wire-rimmed glasses.

Denise recognized her husband. “Why are you driving this vintage VW van, Paul?”

“How’d you know my name? Do we know each other?”

Amy said, “Here we go again.”

She and her sister got into his car, with Denise sitting in the front seat next to her future husband.

He asked, “So, where are you two headed?”

Amy, getting into the spirit of the times answered, “Back to ‘our people's house.”

Denise laughed at her sister’s choice of words.

“So, were you two at the concert?”

Denise says, “Yes. Were you?”

“I got there a little late, but I was able to hear Steppenwolf play, ‘Born to Be Wild’.”

Denise told him, “I love that song.”

“So do I,” Amy agreed.

“I think it’s the anthem for our generation,” Paul told them.

“Yeah; that’s right,” Denise said. She felt like shaking him and saying, “Stop messing around and get us back to the year 2018!” but knew it wouldn’t do any good. She did admit to herself that she liked the way Paul looked in the 1960s. She asked herself, what would things have been like for us if we’d met earlier? She thought about it for a while and they rode along, but then realized that it wasn’t meant to be. If it had, she would have never had her wonderful children with her first husband. She just hoped that she and her sister could find their way back to 2018 and be with their husbands again.

When they got off the freeway, they rode by the Goony Golf course, a favorite hangout for kids until it was torn down in the 1970s. Amy saw the giant purple dinosaur that was part of the attraction and told her sister, “Look. It’s Goony Golf. We haven’t played there in years.”

Denise added, “And there’s ‘The Rite Spot’,” as she pointed to a diner that was on the same lot.

Paul asked, “Would you girls like to stop and grab a burger?”

Denise answered, “No, thanks. We need to check in with our people, as my sister called them.”

When they arrived at their parents’ house, Paul didn’t want to say goodbye to Denise yet and tried to arrange a date.

She answered, “You may not have noticed that I’m pregnant?”

He looked at her belly and said, “Oh, man. You are. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize. I didn’t mean to be forward.”

“Don’t feel bad. I know you’re a nice guy,” Denise told him. “Besides, I think you’re really cute.”

He wistfully answered, “Maybe in another lifetime?”

Denise answered, “You never know,” and blew him a kiss as she and her sister exited his car.

Amy teased her. “I think he has the hots for you!”

She winked at her sister and knocked on their parents’ front door. She looked over at her sister and said, “Well, this should be interesting.”

“That’s the understatement of the year.”