Junk Ranger
I ran into my old pal Junk Ranger Ralph today. He makes his living hauling folks’ junk to the dump. He’s got a 1960’s pickup that looks like he could leave the trash in the back and drive it right into the bin, the whole kit and caboodle, truck and all, good riddance, but of course he needs that truck. His hand painted sign JUNK RANGER is on half rotted plywood he’s attached so he can pile trash and junk and garbage clear to the sky. It’s a hard way to make a living, but then, what’s new? Most of us down here like to think there’s an Easy Way, but none of us ever found it.
Ranger Ralph saw me digging out front and pulled his Ford 150 halfway onto the shoulder where it could challenge the Sunday drivers out for a spin in the bucolic countryside. His emergency blinkers don’t work so he left it up to the Lord to protect the tourists. It usually turns out okay, at least so far.
Ralph and I went up to the house to catch up. Like I said, it’d been awhile. His big news was he’d found a ‘soul-mate’, which, when you stop and think, is big news for any of us. “The only problem,” he confided, “was she lives 300 miles away.” I guess soul-mates aren’t worried about the temporal world. I asked how he met her and of course it was on the internet. “I spoze it could’ve been worse, Ralph. At least she doesn’t live in Shanghai.”
They’ve met a couple of times, in person, I mean, and Ralph thinks it’ll work out, this distance thing. Me, I’m not so sure, but then we ARE talking about a soul-mate, not some chatroom hookup with an FBI undercover agent. At least I hope so.
It’s a New World out there and actually, I was surprised Ralph even had a computer to use to let his fingers do the walking. Maybe a recycled one from his dump hauls. All I can say is love blooms in the unlikeliest of places these days — and being an unrepentant romantic, I wish Ralph al the happiness in the world. Although, between you and me, I doubt his old truck can make too many trips 300 miles one way. With luck, maybe he’ll break down the last time in her driveway.
Hits: 157
“With luck, maybe he’ll break down the last time in her driveway.”
Now that, is a perfect Hollywood movie ending.
How about Robert Redford as Ranger Ralph?
Sissy Spacek as the long distance love?
And if you don’t mind my adding a little to the protagonists character – – he keeps that old truck running (right up until the end) because he’s quietly and unbeknownst to anyone, a “truck whisperer.”
Well, I guess I was injecting a personal take on that ending, being more of a truck yeller than a whisperer. Ranger Ralph, being a throwback to our hippie daze, is soft spoken. But no doubt he carries a big wrench.