An interlude in the Year From Hell:

So I'm waiting in line in the Seattle Greyhound station. In those starving student days I was lucky enough to get by without a car most of the time. By 1979 I had figured out I was mortal and decided maybe hitchhiking wasn't such a hot idea. So I'm waiting in line in the Seattle Greyhound station.

The guy ahead of me was a bit drunk and told me he was headed back to Walla Walla. He was on parole from the Big House, the Crowbar Hotel, the Joint. He seemed friendly enough.

In short order we were joined by another gentleman. He appeared to know the guy on parole. This new person was panting and his eyes were big. "The heat's on my back, man," and we could see beefy clean-cut law enforcement types on the periphery of our vision in all directions. Whatever crime this guy had committed sure drew a lot of attention. And soon they closed in to nab him.

Did I mention what I looked like at this time? No? I was wearing an old Army jacket and hadn't shaved in about a week. At Evergreen I didn't stand out, I mean, we were Grunge long before Grunge became Grunge. But in the real world it was a different story.

So when these law enforcement officers swoop in I had a vision go through my mind. They grab the guy and ask,

"Who are you?"
"I just robbed a bank."

Then they go to the parolee,

"Who are you?"
"I'm on parole from Maximum Security at Walla Walla and I'm drunk."

Then they come to me,

"Who are you?"
"I study 'Shakespeare and the Age of Elizabeth' at The Evergreen State College."

Then the officer in charge instructs the others, "OK, book all three of them."

That's how it felt in 1979, just being associated with TESC was enough to get me in trouble. But, as it turned out, they merely arrested their main prey and quickly left. Meanwhile, on the bus ride back to Olympia I learned new things from my new acquaintance like where the best prostitutes could be found in Tacoma, and how I could kill a man with one hand.