State Plates
I was reminded of this story while talking to a friend the other day. I’m not sure whether other people think as I did or not, but when I was stationed in Florida at the Naval Hospital in Orlando, I frequently checked license plates of the cars as they passed. When I would see a Pennsylvania license plate, it made me wonder where in our state they lived. It didn’t make me homesick, but it did give me a feeling of connection with strangers who were passing by.
That is the background for the actual story. One of the times when I was on leave my parents Carl and Sybil Miner Beck drove to the Pittsburgh Airport to pick me up. I don’t remember what time I my flight landed, but I can clearly remember that darkness had fallen. I was glad to be home and happy to be settled in the backseat of their car. As we drove along the Parkway exiting the city, I can remember seeing Pennsylvania license plates, one after another. The plates were easy to see, lit by the light over the vehicles license plates. I felt a similar tingle that I felt when I saw a Pennsylvania plate driving by when I was in Florida. Each time a car would pass, I thought, “Wow, there’s another Pennsylvania license plate.” All of a sudden it dawned on me, “You dummy. No wonder there are so many Pennsylvania license plates. You ARE back in Pennsylvania.”
As I was writing this, another recollection popped into my head. When I was a kid, we didn’t have Frisbees. We were fortunate if we had a bat and a ball. We often made do with what we found as a toy. I can remember that I found a chrome plated wheel cover that had fallen off a car. The hubcap was heavy, about fourteen inches in diameter. I picked it up and began to toss it like a flying disc. It worked fine for several flights until the thin metal edges of the underside tore into the flesh of my fingers. The black dust that had collected from the brake pads rubbed off on my skin contaminated the cut.
I didn’t need stitches, but Mom’s cleaning of the wound hurt like the devil. I don’t remember what happened to the hubcap, but I do know I never used a hubcap for a Frisbee again.