Richard Kimble, the Barefoot Bandit and Me, The Fugitives
Richard Kimble, the original Fugitive, was an innocent man, hounded across the American landscape by his pursuer, Det. Philip Girard, for killing his own wife. Kimble didn’t flee in a world of Amber Alerts where the entire Hive stands ready with a cellphone keyed to 911. I can’t recall anyone lasting 24 hours after the Alert was posted on freeway signs with descriptions of car and license. I can’t recall anyone eluding capture whatsoever. Richard Kimble, the TV fugitive, wouldn’t have made it past the Pilot, much less through a series.
Oddly, the last Amber Alert of recent memory ended in a capture on Camano Island by the same Sheriff’s Department that never caught the Barefoot Bandit in years of trying. The Kid never had a car. Or a driver’s license. Never had his own cellphone or credit card. Never shopped in town and swiped a Haggens card.If you wondered why he became an internet hero, this is why. He was digitally invisible. A cyberspace cypher. A ghost in the machine. He was the bat in a world of bits and bytes. He was the 21st century fugitive.
I’m not the Kid. But I’m trying. I abandoned my truck next to the woods by our woodsheds, keys in it, CD in the player, White Rabbit on pause. I’m moving cross country, but I’m not stealing planes en route. The rest I can’t tell you. I can’t trust anyone now. If you knew me pre-Flight, you don’t now. Nothing personal. The hunted don’t have the luxury of friends. Or family. Or even a past. No postcards. No phone calls. No memories.
The Kid should’ve holed up on Camano. Or Orcas. Maybe he was looking for the Grand Gesture. He taught himself to fly so by God fly he would. I’m guilty of entering my own country illegally. What grand gesture can I make commensurate with a crime so heinous? No way would Kimble make that mistake. But then, unlike the Kid and me, he was actually innocent. If there IS such a thing anymore….
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