Shooting at Transformers

One of the entertainments in and around our small towns in the summer was shooting at transformers on the county roads. No, it’s certainly not anything I ever tried but these were friends of one of the elite young men of Norfolk who could get away with anything he damned well pleased so……except this little escapade ended up killing him and two other kids!

I am using full names because these people are either dead or somewhere in another part of the country and this occurred when I was 16 in 1969!

Four teenagers headed out mid-afternoon on a Saturday, roaming the back roads, and drinking beer – a given! The driver was the older sister of two with whom my sister and I were close friends, Carolyn & Holly; I also went to parochial and high school with Holly. Carolyn was dating the bad boy in town, Miles Amen whose dad was the Postmaster in Norfolk. MY Father worked for him!

In the back seat of the 2 – door car sat a very popular HS football player, Donnie Straight, and Kristi Love, a female friend. Among my close group of friends was Donnie’s GF, Judi Upton, of Indian (US) heritage. She had been invited on the outing but had another commitment.

Of course, Miles had brought his rifle – IDR whether it was a shotgun or a 20/20 or what. They pulled over to the side of the deserted gravel road near a transformer – Miles opened the car door and balanced the weapon on the top of the door. He took a few shots and missed – he tried one more time and hit the wire, which promptly whipped around and landed across the hood of the car.

Miles was electrocuted immediately! As Carolyn reached out her hand from the driver’s seat to touch him as he fell into the car, literal spurts of fire raced up her arm. Donnie quickly realized the position they were in, while Kristi was screaming her head off, frantic to get out – Miles’ body was blocking the seat back – he couldn’t push it far enough forward to get clear enough to jump.

He realized he MUST avoid touching the ground and the car at the same time. He tried to swing out of the door but the seat back accidentally flipped back and knocked him off-balance. He fell and died immediately.

Somehow…..even she can’t remember exactly how…..Kristi grabbed the seatbelt hanging from the ceiling, rolled the window down on her side, and climbed as far out as she could. At that point, she passed out and remembers nothing else until she woke up in a heap on the gravel road, next to the car. These were her recollections.

For my part….it was a particularly bad time for me at home and I had only recently been accepted and welcomed into this group of friends. Judi and I also shared first names and had been on an escapade or two together – we were close! She desperately needed to be with her and Donnie’s friends at that moment and that was US!

I begged my parents to let me take the Black Orchid (Dad’s car) to pick her up. Nope – not your business, she needs to be with her family now! What they refused to accept was that her family never approved of Donnie and she needed to get away from them.

Finally, they did agree to let me go with another friend, Joyce, who picked me up. We spent hours just driving around with Judi……it truly was a heart breaking time! Indeed, the entire town of Norfolk mourned!