Sherwin Arnott: Hitchhikings

One time, I was trying to hitch a ride. It was a really long wait. I was generally careful not to feel too entitled about getting picked up. But I kind of got used to being successful. And I took my hitching presentation pretty seriously. So when I had to wait for, like, three hours I was getting a little worn down.

And then it started to rain.

I had my backpack with me and I was prepared to set up for the night. But not really; I wanted to put the miles on.

Anyway, I was standing there getting soaked and feeling grumpy and maybe sorry for myself. Then this minivan zoomed around the corner and pulled over. I had to walk-run to catch up to them, which I was pretty wary of doing because people could be assholes. But the driver seemed earnest. I don’t know why I thought that. Whatever.

I was stoked when they didn’t drive away. I had to open the passenger side door and this grey-haired woman was looking very sternly at me.

“Get in!” she barked, and she threw a towel at me. I spent the next 45 minutes getting a lecture and feeling very happy to be in a warm dry vehicle and doing my best not to fall asleep.

And that was that.