Route 66

This story is fiction, but certain historical facts are correct to make this seem like it really happened.  I know you will be saying that Adam should have a blue ‘62 Corvette, but this is my "dream" and he can have the car I want and so I am going with a white ‘57 T-Bird:

The day was March 7, 1969.  Grandma had so graciously given Adam his dream car since she could no longer drive. He was now of age and she wanted him to get a good start in life and have a vehicle to get around in. Adam just loves Grandma because what more could a young lad want when he has just recently graduated from high school, especially for the type of car he got! Before settling in for university, a trip was in order and there was no better month than March if you know the Midwest States at all.

After three days on the road, Adam was driving along in his T-Bird convertible, glancing off to see the clumps of sage brush on a glorious beautiful warm day just outside of Gallup, New Mexico, with the sun nicely heating up the landscape. He does like these early summer days and feeling the dry heat blowing on his face, and he had his American tan coming along nicely by now, despite being Canadian. Although Adam was on his own, this was about to change as he was to pick up his buddy, Les in Albuquerque so they could continue on their journey to see the sights, experience life, take the odd casual labor job along the way to give them some cash to live on, and live for the moment.

The road never deteriorated as it does not get the frost they have up north, was well marked, with lots to see due to the changes in terrain along the way. Adam was in no rush and he sure needed a lunch and fill up. He noticed a place just up ahead with a service station and a diner. Mama’s Route 66 Diner with her picture showing an attractive figure, well tanned skin, white smile, white cap on her head.  Hmmm, looking good, he thought. 

There was nothing but red desert sand as he drove off the tarmac to pull up to the restaurant. Red dust on his white convertible was not the best and so hopefully the wind does not pick up. Adam pulled up in line with other cars to park, and being young, lean, and nimble, he hopped out of the car without opening the door. As he trekked to the entrance, he also noticed other vehicles there and so figured this was a good sign as the place must be popular. He opened the shiny glass and chrome doors of the Diner.  Behind the bar, he saw what must be Mama with a cigarette drooping off to the side with smoke coming from her nose, then clouds of smoke coming from both sides of her mouth, like a steam locomotive. She was heavier set and looked rather tough, with leathery skin and wrinkles to show off her bad habit, complete with a raspy voice. The picture of her outside must have been taken a few years ago, Adam concluded as she looked quite different now! 

She greeted him cordially and warmly like any mother would do. She detected that he must be a laid-back country boy on the move, a Canadian accent at that, perhaps a little shy, and God knows he is naïve. She sat him down in a booth which was good for him so that he could keep an eye on his special car to make sure it was safe. Adam felt comfortable having a table with two bench seats to himself. Mama then cleaned off the leftover crumbs and juice, placed a cool glass of water, calcium streaked utensils on top of a flimsy paper thin napkin that immediately picked up any leftover dish water from her well used and sloppy wash rag. More like a piece of leftover rug he thought, but the table top was clean.

“Here you go, my Dear,” said Mama handing him a well soiled menu. “Could I get you a drink to start with?”

Adam already knew what he wanted as he could see what others were having and the billboard sign gave him the right thought to start with.

“Just give me a large strawberry shake, double burger with fries, and grilled onions, please”.

She knew he was hungry with that quick response, and being naturally lean allowed him to eat whatever, whenever, free from having anything green with the meal that his own mother would insist.  It did not take long to get that milk shake as the other customers were well settled into their meals and engrossed in conversation allowing Mama to give Adam her undivided attention. He had a second look for any sign of ash in the creamy milk topping, but it looked miraculously perfect. Taking a sip proved the drink to be soothing to his taste buds and tummy, most refreshing.

"Thank you, Mama, all is good," he said. He completely relaxed in his seat, glad to have gotten a break from driving, and knowing a meal was coming, enjoying the stability and peace he was experiencing in his homey booth.

Across the aisle sitting on a bar stool was a cute young petite girl in a flowery moo-moo dress sipping on a straw to get at that cola in her glass, and with a headband and flower pinned into her long brown wavy hair just staring him down. Then he saw a slinky multi colored cat jump onto her lap from a long way down and she immediately picked it up to place on the counter.

“None of that, my sweetie. Please take the cat off the counter,” bellowed Mama and so she just grabbed and hugged the cat in her lap, then continued her stare of that young man named Adam.    

Adam saw the music juke box a few aisles away and immediately thought some music would add further pleasure to his situation. He could see the mini slot machine tucked underneath the sill where you put in your nickel for the song of your choice. 

He found out it was so easy to flip the pages in search of the right song…well, he decided he was in the mood for some rather mellow music, like "Oh Donna". He grabbed a nickel from his pant pocket, put in his coin, punched in the reference number and then sat back to listen (Ritchie Valens – Donna):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKUycdloFPg

With some sedate music playing he chose to speak to the young one cheerfully and show some interest in her.

“Well, hello there! I don’t think you are Donna as you are too young."

“No, my name is Madonna, and this is my cat Billy!"

“Madonna, really? Interesting, I am at Mama’s Diner, I play the song ‘Donna’ and your name is Madonna!”

He thought that was a little funny, but he got no reaction from her. She looked like she had a hippie connection of some sort, being so carefree and relaxed. She must have quickly concluded that Adam was of no harm, and maybe it was because of the little Canadian flag showing on his golf shirt. 

Adam was not expecting to have a cat placed on his lap so quickly after his greeting, as this was rather instantaneous and the cat immediately dug his claws in deep.  Madonna then grabbed her drink from the counter and sat across from the young man, whether he wanted her to, or not. She certainly was showing her assertiveness. He was lost for words but she chose to have a visit with him and Mama could see her action and seemed alright by it. Adam quickly concluded she was her grandchild and her mother must be out. Petting the cat turned him into a purring machine and allowed for the claws to recede. She then took a big stick of bubble gum from her little purse to chew on. Time for a chat, Adam surmised.

“Where did you get your cat?"

“I was at a music festival with my Mom and this lady came up to me and said her house cat just had a litter,  She then handed me Billy, who needed to have a home.” 

Then peering out the window she asked, rather excitedly, “Wow! Is that your car?”

“Yeah, my grandmother let me have it when I turned 18 and graduated from high school. Kind of fortunate, eh. Maybe your grandmother will give you her car when you are older."

“Grandma does not have a car. She has an old truck so she can carry lots of groceries. It burns a lot of oil and runs kind of rough.”

Adam thought she seemed to know a lot for a little person. Now it was her turn to ask. 

“Why are you playing such old music for? Why don’t you play something more modern, like from this year?”

Madonna took it upon herself to flip through the list of songs to come up with one more suitable for her taste.

“Here’s one. I really like this song!”

The song certainly was more alive and upbeat, and so, yeah maybe Adam needed to get with it. He pulled out another nickel to play it next (Tommy James & The Shondells - Mony, Mony):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkMgs3lFwkQ

Adam was enjoying the company of this young lady, who was not much more than half his age! But she seemed to have some maturity about her and knew how to perhaps manipulate him a bit. The cat chose to take off, using his lap as a springboard to launch from.

“So, Madonna, is this where you live or what?"

“No, we are from Michigan, but on the move, just came by since there was a music festival happening in Red Rock Park just down the road from here, and also my Grandma owns this Diner."

“So, where is your mother?"

“She is sleeping. I think she had too many drugs last night and is needing some time. Grandma does not want her to take drugs."

“Have you taken any?” 

Madonna shakes her head, “Nah, not into that. I am still too young anyways.  My Mom wanted me to try once but I really want to be a singer and I do not want to lose my focus. When at a festival I spend my time practicing my voice. I also like to dance and I do want to be an actress some day. Are you from Canada?”

Adam noticed a sparkly cross attached to a chain around her neck, partly hidden by her dress and was perhaps in place to protect her from the evils of the world. Mama came by with his meal…oooh, this looks good! He took a bite of the burger and could tell it was done just right in a bed of grease, and Madonna remained there studying him waiting for his answer and chomping on her gum.

“Yeah, around Brooks, er actually Calgary now."

“Calgary? Where the hell is that?"

“Straight north from here. When you get into the snow, you are there."

“Where are you going?"

“Albuquerque, to pick up my buddy, Les."

“Hey! Maybe you can take my Mom and I as we are going in that direction! Oh wait, you only have a two-seater and so that’s not going to work.”

“So, shouldn’t you be in school or something?"

“Nah, not for now as my Mom wanted to take some time off after Dad abandoned us. We plan to take the summer off until we take in that big festival happening in Woodstock in August."

“Woodstock?”

Adam thought Madonna’s mouth was going to drop from her jaw after his response.

“Hello! Are you serious? You have not heard about this? It is supposed to be the biggest and best ever music festival with so many bands coming in! There is supposed to be half a million people coming!"

“A half a million? Wow, news to me! Groovy! Sorry I will miss it.”

As he took his next few bites, Madonna just continued to sit across from him upright, studying every move he made. It was as if she was mesmerized by him. She must have been interested in boys already, or wanted a bigger brother, or was missing her Dad.  She sure liked her bubble gum Adam noticed quite quickly when he was eating,  She had a routine going where she would chew, chew, chew, chew, then blow, blow, blow, and pop! Now this is fine, but she was continuously doing this across from him and after a minute or two it was starting to bug him big time and he really did not want any splatter from popping her gum in his food.

“Will you knock if off! I am trying to eat my meal still and you keep popping your bubble gum!”

Hearing that, Madonna ripped the gum out of her mouth and placed the slimy pink gooey blob onto the counter. Fortunately, she then placed it next on his wimpy water-soaked napkin and pulled it off to the side of the table so he would not have to look at it! She then went to get another dry napkin for him to use if needed, which was nice of her. At least she wanted to be friendly and was adjusting her routine so that she could get along with him. Billy the cat came back and jumped on his lap as he was taking a bite, with his tail was tickling his chin. Adam liked cats but this was perhaps a bit too much and he was about to push him away, but Billy kept going this time and walked off to curl up on the bench seat next to the window.

The table height for Madonna was perfect to place her elbow on it, her hand on her cheek so she could keep studying Adam while he ate, having a half smile on her face. Things became quite peaceful next as she stayed still with the cat sleeping. He poured ketchup on his fries and continued eating. Adam was starting to know what it was like to have a little sister studying his every move! He was less anxious now to get to Albuquerque as he had her, the cat, and some food, and so what more could he possibly need? He had his own family for the moment and so everything was good as he was not alone anymore.

Madonna noticed a shiny nickel on the floor to use  that someone must have dropped.  She flipped through the song selections and came up with her favorite, which perhaps best exemplified her current state, being independent and free to do whatever she wanted, well, almost (Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egMWlD3fLJ8

Madonna immediately got up with the music, spun around with her arms and legs flying in dance to the tune, which was all fine for she was in a mood of celebration to the music. What Adam noticed during the song, however was this rumbling noise of tailpipes, and as the song progressed, the noise got louder. He originally thought it was background sound from the record but then concluded it was too much for this to be possible, and it seemed to be coming from outside. When the song finished, Madonna stopped dancing, looked out the window, and had a concerned look on her face. Adam noticed the whole Diner was no longer alive with conversation, as everyone else had stopped talking, and the place became as still as glass. It was as if the rumbling sound was shaking the building.

Looking outside he could see some big, snarly motorbikes pulling up, complete with rugged, dusty, tough looking dudes in their black leather vests, bandanas around their head, tattooed arms, chains hanging from their jeans, metal on their face, and a skull and crossed bones with eagle wings on their backs…oh, oh. Only eleven of them, as Adam counted, but it only takes one to cause a problem. Sure enough, they chose to park their bikes in the empty spot right next to his T-Bird! 

The biggest dude, the gang leader was almost finished smoking a joint, and when he got off his bike, he could not help but stop and observe the beauty of the T-Bird from Canada. What he did next got the young Canadian's adrenaline flowing as he chose to flip the butt of his joint into his car! But that was not all.  He then decided to undo the zipper in his pants, pull out his tool, and start to urinate all over the car seat! Normally at peace with this world, Adam was both angry and upset and panicking over the state of his Grandma’s car.  He quickly got up to go outside, but Madonna grabbed his arm and hung on for dear life.

“No! Are you crazy? Don’t go out there, or you will get hurt, really bad!”

He did not know what to do quite frankly for nothing like this ever happened to him before. Fortunately, the seats were covered with smooth, almost glossy leather and so the urine would not soak in much. Once his job was done, the gang made their way to the Diner entrance. Madonna pushed Adam back into his seat, with her doing the same and she whispered, “I know what to do to get even! Now don’t look surprised when they come in, and pretend you don’t know anything! Just relax!”

Adam was getting instructions from a teeny bopper? But he really did not know this area and what to do since danger was a real possibility. The biker gang strolled on in and started to look around for some seats of their choice. The Big One even glanced at their seats and sure enough took an interest in their spot and came over! He was really BIG, as Adam had to look a long way up, and he looked quite intimidating. Adam noticed he was having a rather bad hair day.

The Big One said with a sneer, “I believe you are in my seat.”

Adam acted surprised as coached and asked, “Who us?  Why do you say that?"

The dude put his hands on the table, leaned forward and looked at Adam straight in his eyes, “Because I said so!"

Billy the cat was hissing and so must have had previous experience with these types of boneheads.  Now Adam was getting a little ticked about this whole thing, but knew best not to show it. Madonna grabbed his arm to urge him to move to another location, but at the same time Mama showed up since she heard their arrival.

“Look fellas, I do not want any trouble, or have you create a scene in my restaurant."

“Yeah, well, we are hungry and want some food, and so what are you going to do about it?"

“Okay, fine, but tell you what.  I have two picnic tables out back and it’s a nice warm beautiful day. You will be able to do what you want out there and I will bring out the food of your choice. How’s that? Then my customers will not be disturbed and they will be able to continue on with their meal.”

The big one looked at his buddies, looked out across the restaurant at the other customers gawking at them, nodded his head slowly in approval.

“Alright Mama, you got yourself a deal.”

They were expected to go out the front to walk around to the back as this was the route suggested by Mama with the use of her hands when talking.  They went instead through her kitchen to peek at her work area and imprint their boots on her clean floor and then went out the back door. At least they were not in the restaurant anymore! Now Madonna was able to start coaching Adam on what to do next. She whipped out of her little purse hanging around her neck a long and razor-sharp tack. Then she took a little bag of sugar from the condiments available on the table.

“Now once you are finished eating, take that wet rag on the counter to wipe down the seats of your car the best you can and get rid of that smouldering joint. Next, take this tack and jam it hard into the tread of his bike closest to your car, cover the tack head with some of my gum here to camouflage it.  When the sun hardens the gum, this will help slow the air leak so he will not get a flat tire until out of here! Open up the gas cap next and dump this sugar into the tank. Now the bikers came from the east and are heading west…you are heading east!  You will never see him ever again!”

He thought about her plan as she stared at him with her protruding big eyes. He really could not think of anything else to do in this situation! Could I get away with this? Will that work by putting bubble gum on a tire? How was she able to come up with this plan? She must have previous experience doing this! What else does she have in her purse? He decided he could not eat anymore and so placed some money on the table to cover cost with tip. He decided he was done, and he grabbed the wash cloth with the tack, gum wrapped in the napkin, and the sugar bag, then gently, temporarily, and warmly held one of Madonna’s hands in appreciation, then went outside! 

Adam was in a bit of a daze, man on a mission, then thought what was he doing out here but it all quickly came back. He was able to mop down the seats quite well but could see some wet spots on the floor rug. Not that big of a deal he thought as he got most of it and figured he could shampoo that later. He took the tack and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to jam it into the tire and he even heard a slight hissing sound of escaping air to begin with and so knew it was working. He took a chunk of the gum as instructed and placed over the tack head to camouflage it so the dude should not be so suspicious if he noticed. Well, so far so good.  He looked around and could not see any gang members and therefore, went after the gas cap next. He screwed it off, then ripped the top of the sugar bag off… and then he had this horrible feeling of danger come over him. He looked up and saw walking around the corner of the Diner, the Big One… and he was walking back to his bike! 

So here Adam was holding this bag of sugar and then having this bimbo stomping along in his leather boots glaring at him with a rather surprised and angry look on his face! Now what would you do in this situation? Adam's problem with his analytical mind was that he was thinking too much figuring out what to do next and needed some time to process.  He could not believe a little girl named Madonna convinced him to take that gas cap off to dump some sugar in the tank if there was any chance that he could see what he was doing! What was he going to say if he lets him talk? What was the mobster going to do to him? While he was processing his next step, he was still coming over!

What happened after that is rather a blur of activity to say the least. Madonna came to Adam's rescue and ran out to step in front of the dude and started screaming at him to back off as it was her idea! My little hero! Bless her! thought Adam. What she said though only confirmed that Adam was up to no good! The dude brushed her aside with his paw and she went flying and smacked into a street light pole and then landed on a cement curb with some rocks. Now that must have hurt, giving her a few scrapes and bruises! thought Adam. He did not have time to come to her rescue as she was now behind the Big One.

Adam chose to bolt and as he was running off with him in pursuit closely behind, He needed a weapon to defend himself, and so chose to grab a window washer brush by the service station immersed in a pail of water! Now do you really think that a window washer brush made out of plastic is actually going to protect him from that monster? What else was there? Other action happening was that Mama saw Madonna panicking and running out, she could see Adam was in big trouble, and so she grabbed her heavy cast iron pan dripping with grease and headed out. She witnessed Madonna getting knocked over which caused her to become a raging bull and to steam ahead at full speed!

The monster caught Adam before he could hit him with that plastic brush, grabbed him by his neck with one hand and slammed him against a concrete pillar! Ouch, that had to hurt a lot! Holding him in place with one hand, he chose to scrunch his other hand into a fist, spit on it so he could make a loud smacking noise when he gets to smashing in his face, and he cocked his arm ready to punch!

But that was not all that was happening, for you see a State trooper had just pulled up to the service station to get some gas. Mama had caught up to the monster and held her pan high in the air ready to come down on the dude’s head and then everybody froze in that position! The trooper was getting out of his car and asked with an astonished look:

“What the…?  What is going on here?”

With Adam still pinned to the pillar and with the Big One’s fist still ready to strike, the dude started to smile a bit and even said a little "hee-hee". His fist started to unwind, his arm came down to his side, his grab of Adam's neck started to relax until he was able to let him go. Mama chose to bring her skillet down to her side. It was at this time that the trooper saw a whole gang of bikers coming around the side of the Diner since they heard some troubling sounds. 

When people sometimes experience fear, it’s time to pull out a gun to take control of the situation.  A State trooper was no different and so he quickly pulled out his shooter to give him more voice of authority. Adam was wondering why Mama had not pulled out her own gun earlier as opposed to the skillet, as he was sure she had one herself, but maybe she did not have it handy and she needed to move quickly. It was at this time that Adam was able to glance back to see if Madonna had picked herself up from the rocks, but she was no longer there. He then saw her coming out of the Diner holding… Mama’s gun! Now the gun was rather heavy for her slim arms and this made her control over the gun when running to get in range more difficult. She really did not have control and she had her fingers on the trigger! Adam reacted out of fear for what she would do. 

“Madonna dear, nooo! Put the gun down!”  

Adam thought Mama’s eyes were going to pop out of her head hearing this. and when she looked, she froze in fear, then pleaded, “Oh no, my lovely, what are you doing? Please don’t shoot! Please put the gun down, please!"

Madonna yelled with a whimper, yet with fire in her eyes,”He pushed me!”

Adam put his hand out and started towards her with convincing words, “Madonna, don’t you do anything you will regret later! Don’t forget your dreams! You told me you needed to be careful and now is not the time to react as that is exactly what you told me earlier! Now hand over the gun to your Grandma!” 

Madonna was impressed enough with his words; she knew that he cared, and her trust in him showed. She stared at him for a moment, sighed and then handed the gun to her Grandma. 

“Are you my guardian angel or something?"

“No, not really, but I did think that you were mine!”

By this time the gang members had surrounded everyone. You might say things were just a little tense! Now it was time for some words of wisdom from the State trooper:

“I have no idea what all happened, or what for sure is happening here. All I know is that I pressed my call button and backup is coming and they are all going to be here really soon with their own set of rifles and guns! I do not want this to escalate any further and become a real problem as I just want to get things resolved so we can all leave here peacefully!”

Adam did see the button on his uniform, but there was absolutely no way that the button was doing anything as this was only 1969 and workable wireless transmission had not been invented yet! It was just a pretend button! But people with limited intelligence can listen to lies and believe them regardless of how many times they hear them from the same person, and so surely, they will believe the cop. Adam came in peace and so offered a solution, turning his head to the Big One: 

“Now no one has been seriously hurt yet.  I wiped down my leather seats that you peed all over, no problem. You saw that I did not place any sugar in your gas tank.  So, let me put the cap back on, I will need to put gas in my car, and will then be on my way.” 

Then Mama built on his proposal, saying, “I can have your meals ready in ten minutes, boys, and so why not I place in brown bags so you can even take them with you!"

“By the way Mama," Adam said, "That wet rag I used is by the front door and so you may want to run it through the laundry a few times, or better yet, throw it out.”

Mama still had a horrified look on her face and was in a daze.

“Mama?  The wash cloth?"

“Oh yes, fine, sure, thanks.”

The State trooper liked what he was hearing and so said with a smile, “Okay, I will hang around here until everyone has what they need and watch you all go on your way! And I will call to cancel the backup as long as you all agree that we have things under control.”

The Big One needed time to process, similar to last time. He looked around and stared at everyone, including his gang, then slowly nodded his head in approval and said, “Okay then, you got yourself a deal.”

Adam decided he best not go back to his Harley figuring they could take care of the gas cap. With people heading back from where they came, Madonna hopped into his car to check it out and go for a little ride as he backed it out to pull up to the service station. They continued with small friendly chatter as Adam gassed up and then paid the attendant what was due, with any change being handed over to Madonna for any future endeavor. She was not expecting a gift from him and she had a warm smile of gratitude and a thank you. It was time to depart as Adam was in the driver’s seat with one arm resting on the door, one hand on the steering wheel, and one foot ready to press the gas pedal. He was at the same height as her who was standing by his door to give him her last goodbye.  

Madonna had a smile on her face as she stood there saying, “Now that tack is our little secret…"

“And I will look for you on TV when your dreams come true and you will make it big time."

“And when I am on stage, I will hear your voice, just like a prayer."

“And Lady Madonna, there will be no children around your feet anytime soon."

“Papa don’t preach.  I’m like a virgin.”

Adam had no idea what she meant exactly by her last statement but he will give her the benefit of the doubt and remember her as he experienced, a loving and caring person.  She was perhaps sprinkled with naughtiness but willing to give of herself for the benefit of others, who knew what she wanted, and was now back on track to fulfill her dreams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nbRoyJXSfQ

Madonna was willing to be anything others wanted her to be, whether it was really her or not, And the rest is history. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLFWRDsx5AI