Joe (blind), John (bad heart) and I decided to go to a University of Illinois football game. This was before the days when everyone had cell phones. It was my habit to park at my secret spot near the education building and ride my bicycle to the game. It seemed like a good habit to follow.
I let Joe, his big lab Seeing Eye dog, and John off at the stadium door, parked in my secret place and rode my bike back to the stadium. I joined Joe and John and we enjoyed the game. With a few minutes to go in the game I left to get the car.
We had agreed to meet at the intersection at the South-East corner of the stadium.
I am reminded when we were driving back from Ohio and we agreed to meet my niece Kate (formerly known as Kathy) at Sand Dunes Park in Indiana or when the gang was on a canoe trip down the Ohio River and we were to meet Dad at Dam 50.
I got the car and drove back to the intersection near the North East corner of the stadium. There were 10,000 people milling around after our victory. Joe and John were tall but not tall enough to tower over the crowd. Lost! I tried to find them but didn’t want to lose sight of the car because I was parked illegally and didn’t want to be towed.
No Joe. No John. I waited and watched. I did have a bag phone… those early car phones that needed to be plugged in the lighter outlet and were about the size a bread box. I called home. “If Joe or John call give them my number and have them call me.” No call. The crowd was thinning.
I called the campus police and asked if anyone had a heart attack or fell down the stadium steps at the end of the game and explained why I wanted to know. No, but they would be on the lookout for Joe, the dog and John. Later they called and said they had the traffic helicopter looking for them- with no luck.
The crowd was mostly gone when a policeman pulled up. “Is that man standing on the other corner (with the big dog) your brother?” he asked. It was. As I was walking over to Joe, John showed up. After a long wait, John had taken Joe into the dorm at the NW corner and had gone looking for the car, but headed north instead of east. When he came to the campus bars he knew he had gone the wrong way and came back.
There wasn’t much conversation on the way home.
I let Joe, his big lab Seeing Eye dog, and John off at the stadium door, parked in my secret place and rode my bike back to the stadium. I joined Joe and John and we enjoyed the game. With a few minutes to go in the game I left to get the car.
We had agreed to meet at the intersection at the South-East corner of the stadium.
I am reminded when we were driving back from Ohio and we agreed to meet my niece Kate (formerly known as Kathy) at Sand Dunes Park in Indiana or when the gang was on a canoe trip down the Ohio River and we were to meet Dad at Dam 50.
I got the car and drove back to the intersection near the North East corner of the stadium. There were 10,000 people milling around after our victory. Joe and John were tall but not tall enough to tower over the crowd. Lost! I tried to find them but didn’t want to lose sight of the car because I was parked illegally and didn’t want to be towed.
No Joe. No John. I waited and watched. I did have a bag phone… those early car phones that needed to be plugged in the lighter outlet and were about the size a bread box. I called home. “If Joe or John call give them my number and have them call me.” No call. The crowd was thinning.
I called the campus police and asked if anyone had a heart attack or fell down the stadium steps at the end of the game and explained why I wanted to know. No, but they would be on the lookout for Joe, the dog and John. Later they called and said they had the traffic helicopter looking for them- with no luck.
The crowd was mostly gone when a policeman pulled up. “Is that man standing on the other corner (with the big dog) your brother?” he asked. It was. As I was walking over to Joe, John showed up. After a long wait, John had taken Joe into the dorm at the NW corner and had gone looking for the car, but headed north instead of east. When he came to the campus bars he knew he had gone the wrong way and came back.
There wasn’t much conversation on the way home.