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Rapid
Rhonda was the nickname given to a girl from a small
town the Milwaukee Road passed through. She was probably 17.
At 11:00 p.m. on a weeknight and
I had my sleeping bag spread out on a picnic table in one of the
shelters far away from my friends. We all had to get up about five a.m.
to get ready for work, I think we started about 6:15 a.m..
Anyway, some guys always stayed up way late drinking and carrying on.
I wasn't much of a partier. Besides, you had to get up and
perform heavy
labor all day - not easily done with a hangover. So I slipped off
somewhere out of the way
to sleep. The gentleman who
did the ditch driving suddenly appeared in my small shelter
with Rhonda in tow. "Tommy Wad" (a reference to "Johnny Wad",
the porn star), want to get in on some Train?"
In other words, Rhonda would give favors to both of us.
I think rather than an actual invitation, however, this was more of an
attempt
to embarass me.
I said no thanks, and they wandered
off to find another spot for their tryst.
About ten minutes later, the old campground caretaker roused me
from sleep to ask if there were any girls at our campsite. I told
him no and went back to sleep. But he knew better, and this and
other bad behaviors led him in a day or so to call the sheriff and have
the railroaders
evicted from the campground.
Summer passed.
School started for the local high school. One day, about ten
of us were in town standing near the railroad crossing. A
car full of high school girls drove by. One girl
shouted, "Rhonda's got the clap, you guys need to get
checked". Laughing hysterically,
they sped away. It always struck me
funny that these girls assumed ANY railroad workers they
saw would be the right guys. But they were right. Some in our random group
did indeed need this information. Such was the popularity
of the legendary Rapid Rhonda.
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