An Exploration of Bob Seger’s Roll Me Away

Jill: Hi, Sue.

Sue: Where the HELL have you been? We’ve been freaking out about you!

Jill: Well, I was at this bar, about twelve hours out of Mackinaw City…

Sue: That’s a weird thing to say. Twelve hours is halfway across the Midwest. Do you mean you were in Des Moines, Iowa? Where we live?

Jill: Yeah. Anyway, this guy walked in, and we had a few drinks. He was taking a motorcycle trip out west.

Sue: Where was he headed?

Jill: West.

Sue (rolls eyes): Gotcha. One of those. Let me guess: white t-shirt, jeans, pack of Marlboro Reds? You are so predictable.

Jill: Can I finish my story? We had a few drinks, he told me about his whole plan…

Sue: To ride his motorcycle west? That plan? That master plan?

Jill: God, Sue, you’re being a bitch.

Sue: No one has heard from you in TWO WEEKS, Jill. Your boss, your mom…we were literally calling hospitals and morgues.

Jill: I’m really trying to explain, okay? We were sitting there, and I was listening to him, and I looked out the window for a long, long moment, and and then I looked into his eyes, and we just walked out and got on that bike.

Sue: Um, how many drinks had you had? WAIT, how many drinks had HE had? Why was he operating a motor vehicle?

Jill: That’s not the point. He was at this big transitional crossroads, spiritually, really trying to figure out what’s wrong and what’s right.

Sue: Oh, yeah, definitely go off with a stranger struggling with the concepts of right and wrong. Did he have an extra helmet?

Jill: Um.

Sue: Did he give you HIS helmet?

Jill: It was really emotionally transformational.

Sue (flatly): Neither of you had a helmet.

Jill: We…we saw a hawk?

Sue: Let’s recap, okay? You were at a bar, you met a guy, you both got loaded, he said “I’m aimlessly heading west on my motorcycle,” and you basically handed him your panties and rode off into the sunset. With a drunk guy. Without a helmet.

Jill: It felt so good, though! Finally feeling free. We rolled across the high plains, deep into the mountains…

Sue: Into the mountains. Oh, my God. Yeah, you know what? This is what happened to all those chicks that Gary Leon Ridgeway killed.

Jill: Anyyyyyway, it started getting cold.

Sue: Wait, were you in that sundress you had on at brunch?

Jill: Maybe. And, right, we were in the Rockies, and I hadn’t told anyone where I was going, and he seemed kind of dark and stuff, and I missed my mom, so we parted ways.

Sue: You do realize it’s 1982, and we don’t have smartphone technology yet? We don’t even have flip phones. Did he put you on a plane, or a bus, or what?

Jill: No, no. Um, I just got off on a high mountain road, and then he headed on alone.

Sue: I think you need to start talking to someone again. A professional. I’m going to ask around.