Doing The Cruise Night Beer Toss

…Marysville/Yuba City, summer,1970

On The Road With Violet: Take Me To The River

As she sets off down the southern road, Violet cannot help but think about how the clueless folks of her village were no help at all when it came to finding out where the City of Glass actually was.

“Far to the north.”, said Mr. Crinkleglass, the owner of the used food shop. “I knew a feller whose cousin went there once, 40 years ago. Claimed to have seen a two headed dog there.”

“It’s off in the western hills, dearie.”, purred Miss Jessamine, the sporting house lady. “They say that at night, bands of roving savages gather around to gaze upon it’s beauty.”

Mr. Guppy, the town drunk, allowed as how he thought the City of Glass was off in a great desert that might be “kinda south easty from here…on the other side of a big mountain range.”

Indeed, the best advice she got on finding it came from her own Granny Ingrid. “Well, Vi, we know it’s out there somewhere.”, she had said while making a blisterberry pie. “So I reckon if a body walked far enough, sooner or later they’d just walk right into it.”

And so, armed with her Granny’s sage advice, Violet sets a nice easy pace and enjoys the beauty of the river and the springtime sounds of the birds in the trees.

After walking a couple of miles, Violet gets the distinct feeling that she is being followed.