One Night On The Side Of The Road

Written for OLWG – #393

In those days, not too far off Route 1, there was an old milk truck that someone had converted into a lean-to shelter. The faded logo of a cow sittin’ on a rainbow could still be made out on the side. Inside were a few improvised plank beds, and right outside of the opening was a large fire pit with the hood of an old car propped up as a heat reflector. Past the road was a pasture, and on some afternoons when I camped there, I’d pull out the guitar and serenade the “girls” before they headed off to the barn for milking. They were always an appreciative audience.

I camped there whenever I was on that stretch of road. Beyond was a lonely stretch of road, and I preferred to hit it in the morning when there was a good bit of traffic rather than wait for hours seeking a ride. 

I always checked in with one of the dairyman’s kids just so someone knew I was there. It was polite and easier than explaining what I was up to the local officer Opie.

Not long after starting a fire, I was joined by the dairyman’s large tom cat. His motto was “friendly, not familiar,” he greeted me with a rub against my legs and allowed me to rub his chin in greeting. After that, I was not allowed to pet him. We’d spent enough time in front of the campfire together to know each other but not enough to get all palsy. I pulled out the beefsteak sub sandwich I had bought in the last town and started sharing it with him. Afterward, I played his favorite songs, the Cat Came Back and Ringtail Tom:

I’ve got an old Tom Cat

And when he steps out

All the other cats in the neighborhood

They begin to shout

There goes a ringtail Tom

Struttin’ round the town

And if you got your heat turned up

You better turn your damper down

Ringtail Tom is a star

He’s a boss around this town

He don’t allow no other Tom Cats

Come pussy footin’ around

He sat there and preened as I played and sang directly to him.

Then I saw something moving down the path in the near darkness. The cat was already ready to run. I looked again and said, “Look over there. Did you see that?” He started a loud purr and jumped from the shelter to greet the man coming our way. ” And how are you, Josiah!” He bent over and gave the eager cat a thorough patting. Seeing me, he greeted me with a hearty ” And how are you tonight, Traveler?”

I gestured for him to come over and sit in front of the fire. The tom cat squeezed in between us. I offered him the last bit of the sandwich, and we talked for a long while as the evening progressed. His handle was Pilgrim, and he’d been seriously on the road since his discharge from the Navy following the Korean War. If Pius Itinerants had elders I was in the presence of one. Taking out a flashlight, he showed me the old tramp marks on the side of the milk truck that signaled that the dairyman was friendly and that this was a safe place to stay. I had learned this by trial and error, but it was marked if you could read the sign.

We sat and sang songs like “Song of the Pius Itinerant” ( Hallelujah, I’m A Bum), “I’ve Been Everywhere”, and the new “King of the Road.” Sitting in front of the fire with a purring cat, we discussed many things. I eventually unloaded the reason I was on the road rather than with my girlfriend. After giving me advice, he summed it up by simply saying, ” Don’t overly worry about it, son; this night will end as the others have.”

Early in the morning, Pilgrim hit the road going south and me north. And Josiah, the cat, headed back to the barn for breakfast.