And you wonder where we’re going
Where’s the rhyme and where’s the reason?
And it’s you cannot accept
It is here we must begin
To seek the wisdom of the children
And the gentle ways of flowers in the wind…
June 1, 2004
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada
Rose and Daffodil walked along the highway outside of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, their thumbs out as they tried to hitch a ride. In the week since they had left Chippewa Falls, they had traveled to the Canadian border by bus, then set out on foot and by hitchhiking when their money ran out.
Two nights earlier, they had hitched a ride into Moose Jaw, camping out by the river. Meals consisted mostly of what they could fish, forage, or scrounge, although they had come across a few restaurants that allowed them to work for a meal.
Rose was fascinated by Moose Jaw—and by most of the places they visited—but there was little money to explore the tourist attractions, and what they did manage to earn mostly went for food. With neither of them employed—or eligible for employment in Canada—they had to do whatever came their way. Rose stuck to legal means of earning food or money—singing, yard work, washing cars—but she suspected that Daffodil was not quite so honest, particularly when she disappeared for a while, then returned with money in her pocket and grass in her hair, or brought a bag of fresh fruits, vegetables, and even eggs with her. She always swore that someone had given her those things, or that she had found them, but Rose didn’t always believe her.
Still, hunger was a powerful motivator, and Rose didn’t object too loudly to Daffodil’s possibly illegal activities. She knew that her friend had a good head on her shoulders and would never deliberately hurt anyone. Daffodil refused to tell Rose precisely where she had gotten the food and money that she brought back, or what she had been doing, but when other ways of obtaining what they needed presented themselves, the unexplained items stopped appearing.
Rose didn’t like the idea of Daffodil stealing from people’s gardens or selling herself, but she was grateful to have enough to eat. Ethics and morality were easy to ignore when the alternative was hunger, although she had never been desperate enough to do such things herself. She wouldn’t rule it out, though; life on the road wasn’t easy.
Rose was drawn from her thoughts as a car pulled to a stop beside them. Two teenage girls looked out at them, one of them rolling down her window.
"You guys looking for a ride?" she asked, eyeing them nervously but egged on by her friend.
"Yeah." Rose set her guitar down, resting her arms for a moment.
"Where are you going?"
She shrugged. "Anywhere." Glancing at Daffodil, she added, "Right?"
"Yeah. We’re just traveling."
"Okay." The driver looked at them oddly, then shrugged. "Get in. How come you’re not staying here?"
Rose shot a look at Daffodil, suspecting that she knew why she was so eager to leave, even though they’d found a good camping spot that they could have stayed at for several days more. She didn’t tell the girls that, though.
"Who wants to stay in Moose Jaw?" she asked, getting laughs from both teenagers.
"Not me," responded the girl in the driver’s seat. "We’re going to Regina. That okay with you guys?"
"Fine with us," Daffodil responded, climbing into the back seat.
"It’s as good a place as any," Rose agreed, hoping that Daffodil would stay out of trouble this time.