and then there was the time...

...I sprained both my ankles when I jumped off the bridge running from the police.

I had begged, borrowed and stolen enough money to get Oscar out of jail after the robbery. We were walking to his parent's house because I had been kicked out of my parent's house again and I no longer had a car to drive since I had driven the getaway car like a dumbass. The police stopped us, yet again, as small town police do when they get your number. We weren't doing anything wrong but at this point they were breathing down our necks all the time so we wouldn't cause any more trouble.

They said they were arresting Oscar because he had broken the window down at The Banner (the local newspaper). He didn't but who was going to believe our denials at this point. The next thing I knew Oscar took off running. Then James took off. In the heat of the moment, I ran too. We scattered in three directions and I was running across the bridge going into Logan. This bridge is about 40 yards long. I knew I had to beat the police car across the bridge or I would get caught.

As the car raced past me to the end of the bridge and stopped. I got to the point where I was over the bank but not over the river. I dove over the rail into the steep, sandy embankment. As I skidded down the sand and landed at the bottom of the gully I stood and I could barely walk. I knew I had to hide (which was stupid because they hadn't been after me to begin with) so I climbed into the girders under the bridge.

Then I used one of my old hide and seek tricks. People could always find me because of my shiney, blonde hair. I took my coat and turned it inside out. It was night and the inside of the coat was black. I covered my hair and my face and upper body with the black coat. I had now blended in with the black of the night and the dark girders under the bridge.

I watched the police as they hunted for me on the riverbank. I stayed in place for hours as they came back several times to find me. Later when I saw it was safe I climbed down. I made my way around the steep mountains around my hometown wondering where I was going to stay on a cold, December night.

I ended up curling up around a softball sized opening to an old mine shaft that I knew about. There was warm air whizzing out of that opening and I woke up covered in about a quarter inch of snow.

It was then it finally dawned on me that I may need to change the course my life was taking. I spent a couple more days hiding from the police but I turned myself in 3 days later because I knew that I needed to either leave town and start over or give up and get on with my life.

lesson learned.