WHILE HITCH-HIKING ACROSS CONNECTICUT

AGAIN, TIME CANNOT BE DENIED, IT IS SO MUCH A PART OF ALL WE WERE THEN AND WHAT WE BECAME AND WHERE THOSE OF US STILL HERE WILL BE. ISN'T IT FUNNY THAT WE ASSUME WE CAN DELAY TIME
BY KEEPING OUT OF SIGHT IN TIMES SQUARE AT MIDNIGHT OR ANYTIME? REALLY. WHY WAS I HEADED THERE? TO SEARCH OUT RESTAURANTS IN TIMES SQUARE ? NO, IT WAS CURIOSITY, A TRAVELING KIND OF LUST, REALLY.TIMES SQUARE? IT WAS WHERE I ENDED UP AFTER A FULL DAY
OF HITCHING RIDES FROM SOME TOWN SOMEWHERE UP IN THE NORTHERN PART
OF CONNECTICUT AROUND SALMON BROOK AND SOUTH, IN AND AROUND DANBURY TO NORWALK, THEN STAMFORD. THAT'S WHEN SOME MAN NAMED MARVIN IN A STUDEBAKER TRUCK PICKED ME UP IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, IF THERE IS SUCH A PLACE BACK EAST ANYMORE. LIKE STUDEBAKER TRUCKS, NOWHERE PLACES ARE EQUALLYAS RARE. PEOPLE ARE EVERYWHERE. MARVIN TALKED ABOUT THE KOREAN WAR AND HOW YOUNG I LOOKED WITH ONLY ONE DECADE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OUR AGES. IT WAS SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT, FOR SURE. HE SAID THAT WAR WAS HELL AND KOREA WAS WHERE HE FROZE BOTH EARS. HE WAS BORN IN 1932. ME? A MONTH AFTER PEARL HARBOR HARBOR. HOW MANY MEN HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT HOW THE YEAR YOUR WERE BORN DECIDES WHICH WAR YOU'LL BE IN. HE SAID HE WISHED HE HAD BEEN BORN IN 1922 BECAUSE THE SOUTH SEAS WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR HIS EARS. HE WANTED TO STOP OFF SOMEWHERE TO BUY A BOTTLE BUT I GAVE HIM A SIP FROM MY FIFTH . "NO," I TOLD HIM, "NEVER BEEN TO NEW YORK BEFORE," I SAID. "CONNECTICUT WAS QUITE ENOUGH FOR ONE DAY. MARVIN SEEMED TO KNOW HIS WAYAROUND TIMES SQUARE LIKE THE BACK OF HIS HAND. "WAS I HEADING THERE TO SEE SOME KIND OF SHOW? DID I KNOW THE LEGAL AGE FOR DRINKING IS EIGHTEEN?," HE ASKED. "I KNOW." I SAID AND MENTIONED MY PLANS TO STOP AT THE PEPPERMINT LOUNGE. WHY HADN'T I TAKEN A BUS? IT WAS TOO COMPEX TO TELL HIM THAT I WAS ON LEAVE AND IT HAD TO DO WITH FREE PLANE RIDES ON MILITARY AIRCRAFT AND SPACE AVAILABLE, NOTHING MORE AND NOTHING LESS...I THANKED MARVIN, TOOK A LOOK IN A MAGAZINE STAND OR TWO, ATE SPAGHETTI IN A GREEK RESTAURANT AND FOUND A CHEAP HOTEL ROOM WITH NO BATH EXCEPT THE ONE AT THE END OF THE HALL. FROM MY WINDOW I COULD SEE TIMES SQUARE. SO THIS WAS NEW YORK. I HEARD PEOPLE WALKING AROUND ALL NIGHT. SOME WERE IN THE HALLWAY OUTSIDE MY DOOR; MOST WERE SEEN MILLING AROUND IN NEWS STANDS. I WONDER WHY PEOPLE WANT TO SPEND NEW YEARS EVE THERE?