23-Year Old Runs Away From Home

 Child Services put out a missing-persons advisory Saturday for 23-year old Tom Fagin of Ledyard CT, last seen behind the wheel of a teal-green 1993 Mazda Protégé on the interstate, heading in a westerly direction. The runaway stands six-foot, is identifiable by the poorly groomed beard and hair that go with his disheveled, generally disordered appearance.

Over the last year, friends had noticed that Fagin would talk increasingly about leaving the East coast for work.

“He never shut up about going west,” said one friend who preferred to remain unnamed. “If you said you wanted to do something next week, he usually said that he couldn’t make it because he planned to be out climbing Mt. Rainier or something. Personally, I’d always figured he was full of if, but I guess he finally got his ass in the car and decided to do something.”

While it has notoriously been difficult to pin-down details about Fagin’s plans for the future, there is speculation that he may in fact be headed for Gillette, Wyoming (pop. 30,000) to work as a news reporter. The isolated city, wedged between the Black Hills in South Dakota and Wyoming’s Big Horn Mountains, is known for its brutal winters, which will shrink the odds of survival if Fagin does not find shelter. 

In his departure, Fagin has left a loving family and a wonderful set of friends who he’s going to miss a lot. Many of these people are already scattered out around the country pursuing their dreams and ambitions. It wasn’t even possible to say goodbye to everyone, before leaving, which sucks.

But wouldn’t it be wonderful if one of them decided to land in Gillette Wyoming some sunny day perhaps to climb some mountains? Chances are, he’s going to be out there for a couple years. In that time, hopefully he’ll get to cross off a couple peaks in the Bighorns. Oh yeah, and go see Devil’s Tower—just like the crazy guy in Close Encounters.