That trip with that truck driver from outside a small town in Iowa to Des Moines and on to Chicago was to be one of the most important learning experiences the alien would have in his time on this new and captivating planet.
From their first conversation the truck driver thought that his passenger's name was "Buddy" - and so it became. The driver did work out, in the end, that he was referring to Buddy Holly and the terrible plane crash that had happened near by. He even pointed out when Buddy Holly's songs came on the radio that they listened to for that whole trip. One song the alien got to recognize quite well was "Oh Boy!" - he would even sing along, but only the words "Oh Boy". It became part of his new language that he would repeat when ever the moment felt right. In fact, the truck driver was such a willing teacher that he taught "Buddy" many words and phrases that he could use in his travels. By the time they got to Chicago he could say and understand expressions like "Hi" and "My name's Buddy" and "neat" and "Gotta stop for gas" and "You hungry ?" and "Rock and Roll". That last one he specially liked as it referred to music that came on the radio that seemed to spark a very deep pleasure inside his alien body. Since his language was beats, clicks and pops the drums and the music sounded just like happy conversations and good times he had experienced back on his home planet with his friends. It would make him feel so good he would loudly yell another of his new words, "Wow!"
So when he finally left the truck driver in Chicago he was armed with a handy new vocabulary, a name to go by on this planet and a yearning to seek out more of this "Rock and Roll".
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