There was no reason for
Lipski to wander off, but
wander off he did. At first
no one noticed. A guy...a
summer's night...who knows,
and who cares?
Then the chatter happened.
Slowly at first, but
getting more frantic:
"Where's Lipski?"
"Lipski's missing!"
"Have you seen
Louis?"
(Which threw me at first,
because I only knew him as Lipski, and I've known him, his whole life).
Pretty soon the town was hunting for Lipski. All the
volunteers in the Fire Department, they showed up. One of them brought a dog,
thinking maybe they could detect a scent. His mother shared some underwear, it
was all she could readily get her hands on, having done the laundry that very
afternoon. The dog sniffed them, howled, and took off. We were all encouraged.
But the dog stopped at the highway. He paced back and forth nose to the ground,
but Lipski, it seemed, was in the wind.
By now it was almost dawning
and folks were tired.
Someone had the notion that
they needed a break,
so it was decided we take
shifts in the search.
Dealing with limited
resources, we really had no
choice. We decided to set
three, twelve hour shifts,
staggered so one team rests,
while two continue the
search. Handbills were handed
out, news flashes
were generated, but the news
is only news for a few
days. Two weeks was an
eternity, and the news had
to move on. So, too, had
people's lives, and most
returned to the necessary
routine of their every day.
(There were a couple of
investigators from the County, but they had a backlog, and 'how much time
you going to spend...?' )
Only Lipski's most loyal
friends remained.
It really didn't matter. We
lost Louis Lipski that night.
It turns out, Lipski had had this 'thing' for a girl and
he left the fair to pursue her. They had only met that afternoon at the
Cyclone. Each of them addicted to the sharp, neck-wrenching, shifts in
direction, the dizzying way it
makes you feel when you exited, you didn't want to stop, so you got back
on...and again, and again...they coalesced in the centrifugal coincidence of
the pairing, and partnered up in a chemical manner.
They were a great team, anticipating the 'snap' before it
happened, laughing at the whip, daring it to whip harder. Finally the poor girl
got sick and they both were covered in the results. They exited the ride as
soon as it was over. She, so embarrassed, ran into the crowd. He followed, but
lost her. He caught a glimpse of her being driven off in a black sedan. He ran
after it, but to no avail. But he didn't give up...didn't come back where we could
comfort him...commiserate with him...no, he impulsively caught a bus headed
East, which is all he had to go on, so off he went. He never had a chance of
finding her, but he took the excuse, and ran. Damn him.
