Shane’s parents drop him off at the train station with money and instructions to take the train to his Aunt Sophie’s place for the holidays. The minute they drive off, he walks out again, leans against a pole, and throws out his thumb. Having just turned eighteen, he is, as he regularly reminds himself, now a fully legal adult and quite capable of having his own adventure. In the few days and nights it takes him to hitchhike all the way, he gets to know some very interesting people. Hippies, conmen, an ex-teacher ... and also the dog Jimmy. He learns there are more to people than meets the eye, and the world is rather bigger than his cosseted upbringing led him to believe. By the time he arrives at Aunt Sophie’s place, he has lost his virginity, acquired a dog and a cousin, and has the pleasing probability of a sweet summer romance to look forward to.

A Hitch in Time

Next we walked past the white van, now half painted with naked women on one side and a witch on the other. Chuck must have been thinking of his wife, or both of them. I was still confused over the wife/wives situation but I didn’t even want to think about it. Not my business; not my problem.


The kids from the van were all hanging around too. The boy who had—anyway, one of them smiled and winked at me. I smiled back and then grinned at Maureen as she said, ‘‘Oh, he’s such a nice boy. He does our heavy cleaning for us and mows the lawn. You’ll be seeing a lot of him this summer.’’


I didn’t tell her I’d already seen quite a bit of him and liked what I’d seen. We grinned at each other. This visit was looking so much better than before. I was bursting to have my first summer romance and now it looked as if the game was on. Oh, yes, indeed. Wasn’t one of the songs I’d heard something about ‘lookin’ for love’? Well here we are! Hello there!


Chapter 16