"Home to Bozeman"
Even though I was glad Lori got a glimpse of my world in Springfield, it was such a relief to be heading back to Bozeman. After all, the map vision I had when first coming to Bozeman was still on our minds, and we really wanted to be there when it happened. We had decided to stop by Lori’s parents’ house on our way back to Montana, as they lived in northern Iowa, not too far off our path.
The car we were driving was a Buick Oldsmobile 225. It had been a one-owner car and was in excellent condition. It pulled my little red wagon just fine. Lori’s dad had bought it for us using some of Lori’s inheritance funds while we had been living in Springfield. I had sold my Dodge Dart before we left Springfield so this was our only car. Gary had still not sent us the title, but we were told we would be able to pick it up while we were coming through Iowa.
Upon arriving, Gary took our little red wagon to his storage building down the road from their house, but in the process lost our spare tire. He informed me so and I went off looking for it, found the tire, and brought it back to the house.
Turns out, Shirley had been so angered that we had rejected her house rental plan for us and were heading back to Bozeman, that she had called Gary to complain. Gary had decided to try to block our return to Bozeman.
This was to be my first opportunity to see this side of Gary and how severe his control and mental issues were. He informed us we could not have the car, and the trailer would stay locked away.
Keeping us at his house with no way out, he had effectively kidnapped us. We were a bit freaked out at first but after a bit, we packed up what we could, and started walking to town to look for another way out of there.
Gary saw our determination to leave, relented, and told us we could have the car with the title. He also went and got the trailer. We hooked it up, put our stuff in the car, and took off again for Bozeman. A very weird encounter indeed.
Lori and I were so glad to be heading back to Bozeman. When we arrived, a couple of our friends from the Maranatha group, Eric and Zudi, provided us with a place to land and let us stay while we looked for a place to live. It didn’t take long before we found an apartment just a block away from the University. We moved in and got settled.
Lori and I decided with Katie being so young, I would go back to school first. So, I registered for the fall semester, was offered a work study grant, and accepted a job in the cafeteria that I could work between classes. I knew we would need more income, but it was a start. We finally felt like we were home.