I Felt Like Billy the Kid part 1
Billy the Kid, and I both spent time in the Lincoln County New Mexico jail
“You can jail a Revolutionary, but you can’t jail the Revolution.”-Huey Newton
A girl I met while living in Dallas came out for an extended stay with me while I was living in Phoenix. She was very attractive, but she was an alcoholic.
One minute we would be playing a competitive game of tennis or hiking up a steep mountain. The next minute we would be entirely focused on getting alcohol. If she couldn’t get alcohol, she got the shakes and then get hallucinations!
One time we observed this vodka that ate through this storage bottle like acid.
If she had alcohol she was functional, if she had too much alcohol she became a mean drunk.
It came time for me to move back to Dallas. I was going to quit paying rent on my apartment and move back to my house in Texas. Katie had no clear place to go but with me. Actually, she was very resourceful and could have found a way to stay in Phoenix without me.
In any case, she decided to go back to Texas with me. We would just leave our furniture in Phoenix. We were pretty thrifty when accumulating our furniture and could leave it behind. All of our belongings could fit in my SUV, although it would be cramped. Katie's cat would roam around the ceiling-high luggage stored in the back of my SUV.
It was early morning when we began our road trip back to Texas. We had to get Katie a bottle of vodka before we started, we did and were on our way.
By the time we crossed over into New Mexico, Katie was trashed. As we headed toward Texas we entered Lincoln County New Mexico, where Billy the Kid fought his range wars.
A Google search has this to say:
On April 28, 1881, Billy the Kid escaped from the jailhouse in Lincoln, New Mexico. He avoided capture until July 14, when he was ambushed and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett at a ranch house. Billy the Kid is buried in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, though some believe the myth that he lived on.
As Katie and I were traveling in the vicinity of Lincoln New Mexico, Katie in her drunken state started demanding more vodka and jerking the steering wheel.
She was putting us in danger. I was driving a fully loaded SUV at nearly 70 mph (ca. 113 km/h). I had to backhand her to get her to stop jerking the steering wheel. The backhand almost immediately gave her a black eye.
After I backhanded her I pulled the SUV over to check on her. As we were coming to a stop Katie jumped out of the vehicle. The timing of the New Mexico state trooper that showed up couldn’t have been better. After noticing Katie's black eye he placed me under arrest. I was taken about fifty miles to the Lincoln Jail. Katie was taken in a different direction to a women's shelter.
The location of myself, Katie, and my car formed an equilateral triangle with 50-mile sides. It was the weekend and the court was not scheduled to be held until Monday morning, this meant I would have to spend the weekend in jail.
I had time to consider my plea. If I were to plead guilty. I would be released, but with a criminal record.
If I were to plead innocent I could be kept in jail for a long duration waiting for a trial. My situation seemed screwed up and unfair.
I was bored out of my mind having read every available book in the jail. Monday morning soon came, and the court was being held remotely over closed-circuit TV. I was second in line to see the judge.
The person ahead of me went into convulsions during his court appearance and the court had to be cleared. I would have to wait for a little longer in jail.
Finally, I got my opportunity to stand before the judge. I entered the room where the closed-circuit TV was and was surprised to see Katie in the court seats. She would later explain. The cop wouldn’t give her a ride to my court appearance, but through a ruse, she got the cop to drop her off nearby, and she was able to walk over to my court appearance.
At this point, I would have sold my back teeth to get out of jail, but I stuck to my guns, crossed my fingers, and risked a prolonged stay in jail by pleading innocent.
The judge asked me what else I had to say. I replied I actually saved our lives by doing what I did. Katie now being sober backed me up.
The judge pronounced me innocent and both Katie and I let out a sigh of relief.
Thus, the weird trip wasn’t over yet, It would get even stranger.
Stay tuned for I Felt Like Billy the Kid part 2