Chapter 7
Skip’s Story
Morning came with two surprises: Susie had come out to spend the night in Huck’s tent and Rocky had woken up early and discovered the marijuana patch. Smoking pot got Rocky and Skip telling stories about each other.
Skip was our unofficial leader, the one who had found the Land Yacht and brought together this version of The Merry Pranksters. He didn’t look like the politician he was. In fact, he hadn’t looked much like a politician back when he was one. Cheap suits, long hair, last name Dewar, nicknamed “Scotchy” by other legislators (making fun about his preference for Passport Scotch), he was admired by all for his authenticity and earnestness.
The lady farmers (not what they called themselves) were hospitable, but after a day and a half, even Susie was finding the conversations a bit of a drag – returning so often to who was seeing whom in “Lesbian Seattle” and who might be coming up to the farm for a visit this weekend. We kind of kept our own company. The weather outside was breezy but nice. The apple farm bordered the Skagit River a little east of Interstate 5 along Cove Road. It was just a half mile hike through rolling hillsides from the farm house to the river, but for most of us one walk was enough – Sally regretting she left her fishing pole in the Land Yacht.
By the second night, more than a couple of us were for heading back to Seattle first thing in the morning, leaving this love nest and the murder mystery behind. (All except Huck – who wanted to stay – with Susie.)
Skip said it was always a toss-up which he loved most, politics or baseball. It was through baseball he made enough of a name for himself to win an upstart campaign against an establishment incumbent. Skip still looked like a ballplayer, a slender 6’2” with long arms and a great butt (if you asked the ladies), and always wearing a baseball cap.
Never married, always kind, nary a bad word about anybody, Skip was such a nice guy that – to the ladies – he came across more like a brother than a possible paramour. When asked, he’d say he was still waiting for the right woman to come along.
Skip got elected to office as a 38-year-old Democrat, but a reformer and strong proponent of changing election laws to give third parties more of an opportunity. Arguing for Ranked Choice Voting laws, Skip would say:
“Having more choices is good. Heck, when I was a kid, we only had three TV channels to choose from. Who would want to go back to that? But our current voting laws are rigged in favor of a two-party system. Third party candidates have little chance – viewed as spoilers mostly, wasted votes. Tell you what, folks, if we could vote for a third-party candidate without it being a wasted vote, we could end political gridlock in one election cycle.”
When he retired from the legislature, Skip was quoted in the paper saying, “It’s gotten way too partisan, too much posturing, gaming for the next election, rather than trying to do good things for people.” After retiring, Skip returned to his first love, baseball, being an announcer for the local minor league team. When his doctor buddy Max proposed they go on a long fishing trip around the country, Skip was quick to see that as an opportunity to take the nation’s political pulse.
Skip’s best friend since college, Rocky, was notorious for coming up with answers for “What is Fun?” Rocky started life in a John Bircher family but became Skip’s official Treasurer when Skip ran for office as a Democrat. Rocky had a cackling laugh, oftentimes accompanied by a faint smile, meaning you were the joke. He had a barbed tongue, which we tended to notice more than his large belly. Rocky made his living gambling and playing bridge professionally. Jeans, a jean jacket and aviator glasses were his trademark – the Dr. Hunter S. Thompson look.
After discovering the marijuana patch, while eating breakfast with just the guys, under blue skies, Rocky offered up one of his edgy comments about the people in his life, especially the ones he liked: “Come on you guys, let’s stick around, get stoned with these lady lovers. Maybe pick up some pointers on what really turns a girl on.”
Huck agreed with sticking around (thinking about Susie), but everyone else was for getting back on the road. And then the third surprise of the morning. As we finished packing, Susie got back on the bus! She said she was having too much fun to get off, whipped out a baggie and told us that her daughter, Stephanie, had said it’s perfectly legal . . . “but we gotta smoke some right away or we’ll be over the legal limit.”
“You know you guys,” she said, “you all kinda make me feel like Cinderella, and I wanna have some fun before this carriage turns into a pumpkin or we all end up in jail.”