ANY WHERE BUT HERE
Picking up hitchhikers? Think again.
(Quantum Muse)
I heard the craziest story the other day. First, let me back up to the beginning. I was driving down the interstate, doing somewhere between seventy-five and eighty, and I saw this guy hitching. He was holding a sign that read simply 'ANY WHERE BUT HERE'. Being a curious sort, I flashed my lights and pulled over.
Running the hundred or so yards to my car, he jumped in on the passenger side.
"Thank God you stopped, Mister. I've been out there all day." He said, friendly enough, but I noticed he didn't smile.
"About to give up, huh?" I answered back, trying to be cordial. "What's with the sign? Is it, don't know or don't care where it is you're going?"
"Does it really matter which?" he asked, staring out the front window.
Glancing over at him, I replied, "Nope, I don't guess it does at that. Just curious that's all."
Neither of us said anything more for a while. The silence was broken when he asked, "How far are you going?"
"Couple hundred miles down the road," I answered, naming a small town near the state line. "I've got a sales call to make there. You going all the way with me?"
"Guess I will. By the way, I do appreciate this ride."
Falling into silence once more, I took the time to watch my passenger a little closer. The man was almost spooky to look at. He just sat there in the seat. His hands remained clenched in his lap, and he looked straight ahead out the window. We went a good fifty miles like that. I was beginning to get a bit leery of this guy. Here I was chain smoking like a chimney, and although he had cigarettes in his shirt pocket, he had yet to light one.
Finally, he turned and looked at me. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know."
The way he said that sent a slight shiver through me. His words sounded more like a threat. He spoke in a flat monotone, with no hint of humor or emotion. I couldn't handle it anymore. He was making me more nervous by the minute.
"Man, what's with you? Are you running from the law? What's your story anyway?" I demanded, hearing the anger in my voice.
"If I tell you, it won't be my story any more. It will be yours. Are you sure you want to hear it?"
"Hell yes, I want to hear." I said, still with an edge in my voice.
"Just remember," he said, "once I've told you, the story becomes your story."
He paused for a short time and I noticed raindrops beginning to fall on the windshield. I turned on the wipers and looked at the sky. Briefly, I wondered where this storm had come from. It had been bright and sunny five minutes ago. I had to dismiss the thought from my mind that, somehow, my passenger was causing this storm as a prelude to his story. The lightning was ripping across the sky, appearing as giant rips in the darkness overhead. The thunder that followed was deafening, so intense that it shook the car.
Glancing over at him, I almost yelled, "Well, get on with it, I'm waiting."
He looked at me, and for a moment, a half smile formed on his lips.
"Tell me, do you believe in fairies?" he asked, no longer smiling.
