Boy Hero Nabs America’s Most Wanted

Boy Hero Nabs America’s Most Wanted

by Michael Coughlin

Dreams and fantasies can make life so much more interesting than it really is.  I learned this lesson as a wee lad in Northern Minnesota.  Our family had a lake cabin outside the village of Hackensack and part of our daily routine was to visit the Post Office to retrieve our mail.  There on my wall of dreams hung a clip board bulging with photos and descriptions of felonious felons; desperadoes on the loose needing to be apprehended.  I would flip through the photos trying to remember distinctive features of these underworld element–scars, tattoos, missing eyes–anything that might give them away to an observant young kid.  Then, when we had our mail, I carefully stepped out of that Post Office and surveyed the sidewalks.  You know, just in case one of those photos actually came walking my way.  

As I recalled, “I realized later in life what a fine ambition I had.  It was all so very real for me.” 

But isn’t that the stuff of dreams?