The Fog

I was tired. It was 2 in the morning. I was somewhere between Sacramento and Susanville in Northern California on the west side of the Sierras. It was a winding, twisting road that ran along side of a river. It was foggy. So foggy that I could just barely see the yellow dividing line five feet in front of my car. I had been up since 6 the previous morning. I was going to Susanville for the funeral of the mother of one of my best friends from my first try at college. His name was Jack and his mother had treated me like a son. We were going to Los Altos Junior college and I was living away from home. Jack's mother probably fed me at least 3 times a week for a year. A nicer lady you will never find. She was my mom away from home. That was 5 years earlier. A lot had changed since then. I had spent 4 years in the Air Force and had entered another college, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Jack and his parents had moved from Sunnyvale, California to Susanville. It was early January and I was between Semesters at college when I got the news that Jack's mom had past away. I decided to attend the funeral. I packed my 1956 white Chevrolet station wagon and left for California at 7 the next morning. Since I would be traveling alone I decided to borrow my brothers 22 automatic pistol just in case I might need it. I do not know why I thought I would need a gun on that trip. I had thumbed rides all over the western United States and had driven alone on more than one occasion and never thought I need a gun before. Maybe my brother offered and I accepted. I really cannot remember. Whatever the reason, I had the gun. My route took me north to Salt Lake City, Utah where I took highway 40 west towards Reno, Nevada. Leaving Salt Lake I saw a hitch hiker and decided to give him a lift. After all I had bummed my way more than once. He was in his 50's and seemed a little down on his luck. He never said or did anything that threatened me in any way but for some reason I was nervous about him. I stopped at the first gas station we came to and he went to the rest room. While he was gone I took the gun from my suitcase, loaded it and stuck it in the driver;s door pocket. He came back and we continued our trip. I was nervous the whole trip. He never caused a problem of any kind. If fact, he turned out to be OK. When we got to Reno, I told him I wasn't going any further. I dropped him off at a truck stop outside of town, said goodbye and never saw him again. It was about 5 when we parted ways. I went on into Reno and decided to stop at Harrah's and get dinner and maybe gamble a little. I gambled a lot. I did not leave Harrah's until after midnight. The fog started setting in after I left Sacramento. I wad the only one on the road and I was struggling trying to see the yellow line. I was going about 30 MPH when a car came out of the fog behind me. He followed me real close and had his high beam lights on. He was blinding me and making me mad. I slowed down to let him pass and he wouldn't pass. I finally slowed to about 5 MPH and he went by. By this time I was really mad. As he went by I could see that there were 3 or 4 people in the car. I decided to give them a little dose of their own medicine so as they went by I flicked on my high beams and took out after them. I knew I had the gun in the door and I knew that is was loaded, They sped up and I followed. Forty, fifty miles per hour through the fog. I stayed with him, about two car lengths behind. Much to close for safety. Then there were lights in my rear view mirror. Dam, I thought, cops and I was right. I knew I could be in big trouble. I was tail gating at 50 miles per hour in the fog with a loaded gun in my car. I slowed down and the lights got closer. Luckily I had left a magazine on the other front seat. Before the lights got to close I took the gun and put it under the magazine. Within seconds the flashing red lights came on, I pulled over and as soon as I stopped I got out of the car and walked back towards the police car. I did not want to be any where around the gun when they found it. They did the standard procedure at that time, license and registration and then questioned me about what I was doing there and where I was going. They asked permission to search the car and I agreed. The searched under the seats, in the glove box and in the back under the spare tire, I think they were looking for drugs. They did not find any and they also did not find the gun. They said they had stopped me for a non functioning tail light. They let me go with directions to get the light fixed. We got back in our cars and as I slid into the driver's seat I looked at the magazine and there was was the nose of the gun poking out about 2 inches. I had just had all the luck I didn't have back in Reno. That was the last time I carried a gun in my car.