The Old Sot

Maybe it was the confrontation with the old sot in western Nebraska that really began to set Roger apart from Otto. This was after Rick Nelson’s ride on Day 6, as the guys were getting out to “the beginning of nowhere.” They find competition from an older, craggy hitchhiker, an old sot with a bad attitude. He’s mean and not getting a ride, mainly because there’s so few cars and he looks scary. The old sot suggests to Roger and Otto they take turns hitching. Roger and Otto can have it first while he gets himself coffee. Roger agrees without consulting Otto, and Otto lashes out, “What did you tell him ‘yeah,’ for, Roger?  This is a free country. He can’t throw us off here. Now he’s gonna come back in an hour and expect to take over.  No way, sons.  I ain’t gonna!” It takes every second of the hour, but the guys finally get a ride with Vicky and Marti, “as the clock hits zero.” Roger had predicted they would get a ride before the hour was up, going on faith. In doing so, he sidesteps a potential fight with the sot. Otto begins to wonder, no doubt, “Who is this wunderkind who is bold and brash and wants to rule things his way?” Perhaps that’s the point when his leadership seems overtaken. A small splinter between the two is created that goes beyond the spat they had the previous evening (as to whether to eat at McDonalds or The Little Red Barn).  From there on out, there is less “we” and more “Otto and I,” individually speaking.