The Great Escape

The first time that anyone ran away while I was there, was indeed the first time that anyone had run away from the place at all.

I remember clearly that it was a boy named JJ and a boy named Leland. I had a small crush on Leland. He was one of those pretty boys. His family was well off and he was my first glimpse into the fact that even rich kids don’t always have it so good. I don’t remember why he was there, but, I remember him fairly clearly.

Blue eyed and blond hair with a dazzling smile, he could charm the Eskimos into buying ice. He had an easy laugh and when he smiled the corners of his eyes crinkled up and he had a dimple on each side that just made my heart go pitter patter every time that I saw it.

If my memory serves me correctly he was about 16 and I know that his parents were frequent visitors to the Academy, which in my mind meant that they cared more about him then my own parents did.

JJ was a small kid, he was about fifteen I think and man did this kid have ADHD of the worst kind. He could not sit still. He bounced from person to person, place to place, and thing after thing. He would make you tired and dizzy all just by watching him. Like Leland, I am sure that I at one time knew why they were there but the years have robbed me of some of these details. I can’t ever remember meeting his parents.

When I got up that morning, there was a whispered buzz going around. It seemed that sometime during the night while the night staff was doing laundry, they snuck out of the building and were gone.

Not a lot more was known other than that little tidbit of information, although Leland’s parents did come down to “supervise” the search.

A few days later, Leland was brought back and he looked a little worse for the wear. The grapevine story was that they had taken off and were walking along the interstate when a State trooper spotted them and called it in. When they saw him, they took off running, leaving the highway for rougher terrain.

Now, I’m not sure if I have mentioned this or not, but, Western Academy is located in Colorado in a very small town. The nearest large town is about an hour and a half drive and the highway runs along the Colorado river on one side and a cliff wall along the other side, for most of it, not all, but most.

This particular stretch was along the river and being the dead of winter, the river was “frozen”. Most people know that rivers don’t freeze well due to their swift movement, but, they can be very deceptive and these seemed to be the case as JJ and Leland tried to decide if they were going to try to cross the river to get away, or just run along the bank and pray for the best.

It was decided for them when the state trooper caught onto their trail in no time and had managed to catch up to them while they were deciding, so out onto the ice they darted.

Having grown up in Colorado, that river always looked pretty damned big to me. Now I live in a city that sits right on the Mighty Mississippi River and so it seems a bit smaller.

The fact remains however that as they darted out onto the ice, they realized almost immediately that there was trouble. JJ lost his footing and slid into Leland and they both tumbled to the ice with a thud.

Then there was a cracking sound. The officer froze, his expression one of mixed shock and horror as he tried to determine how much time he had before it gave away.

It was while he was trying to decide this, or, maybe he just went into that mode of panic that grips some people, there was another crack.

Then the ice underneath the boys gave way and they both screamed as they were plunged into the icy water.

Now, I’ve never been swimming in the Mississippi, but I learned how to swim in the Colorado, not to mention kayaking and canoeing and tubing on hot summer days, and let me tell you, it has a swift current.

By the time they managed to surface, which alone was a complete miracle, the officer was just a dot standing on the edge of the bank to them.

JJ, despite all the energy this little guy had, was just to tired to swim. I suppose this was because of the cold temperature of the water. So, Leland grabbed his arm and managed to drag them to shore, six miles from where they fell in.

Now, I can’t swear to >all< of this, but I do know that the majority of it is true because this officer was married to a wonderful woman who eventually came to work at Western Academy. So, while some of it may be embellished by the boy who brought the tale back to us, the fact did remain.

I never saw JJ again after that. Some people claimed that he died of hypothermia. I think that they just transferred him out to another facility. At least, that is what I’ve told myself all these years. It would suck to be wrong.