When I was in 6th grade my buddy Troy and I were riding our bikes around Cottage Grove. Right here as a matter of fact:
We were riding along the center island – obviously 2 kids on bikes didn’t belong there but we were rebels like that. Suddenly a light blue Datsun pickup came up behind us and then beside us startling us both. Troy smacked the truck and said something like “Watch it!” which apparently was enough to set the driver off. I remember seeing the sheer anger in his face – he had a mustache and was wearing shades. This was the wrong day to smack his baby blue pickup.
A chase ensued. I was terrified and sure that he was going to a) run over our bikes in his pickemup truck, then b) kill us. Thankfully being that we were on bikes we were able to quickly turn around and disappear while he was stuck behind having to obey traffic laws. We ended up behind the SA hovered behind some tall pine trees. It was probably not even a minute from the incident to hiding behind the trees but it seemed like an eternity. I wanted to snap my fingers and magically be back at home with a bowl of chocolate marshmallow swirl ice cream watching Mr. Wizard’s World.
A minute or so later we watched the baby blue pickup drive back up East Pt. Douglas. He had to go with the flow of the rest of the cars but he was looking for us. We sat there camped out behind the tree until we felt it was safe to get back on our bikes. The whole way home I pretended to laugh it off but kept one eye on the road and the other on the lookout for the Datsun.
I don’t remember faces all that well but I remember his. There’s a guy who works at Muffler Doctor (a few blocks from where this traumatic incident took place) that I saw many years later when I took my Mercury Zephyr in for a brake job that I swear is him. Whether it is or not I’ll never know… but one thing that the escape from the baby blue Datsun taught me: Don’t slap a vehicle if a guy with shades and a mustache is driving it.
