Lonnie and Josie

Me and Lonnie thumbed down a Cadillac
Outside Laredo in the heat of the sun,
The driver was tanned and he looked like a salesman,
We were just children on the run.

He talked real funny like we'd never heard,
Must have been foreign I guess,
And I felt like an actress in an old movie
As Lonnie and I drove west.

We were saying goodbye to the ones left behind,
Hello to the ones up ahead,
Lonnie and me were just drumming our knees,
While the radio D.J. said -

Keep your eyes open for Lonnie and Josie,
Sixteen and fourteen, playing hookey from school,
Last seen they were walking the road by the courtroom
Downtown Laredo at a quarter past two.

Our friend in the front seat turned around and smiled,
Grinning and shaking his head,
Asked us politely where we were going,
Where the sand turns to sea on the coast, I said.

We were crossing the border just out of Texas,
Passed the last dusty abandoned old farm,
With the A:M. playing the songs of Sinatra,
And Lonnie sleeping in my arms.

1973