Subject:  The Hitchhiker (Where You Live Wheel) |
Author:
sarah
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Date Posted: 03:52:27 05/05/02 Sun
The Hitchhiker
I leaned over and shook my passenger’s arm to wake him. His eyes opened slowly, and I felt the muscles tense beneath my fingers. He watched as I pulled my hand away and then turned around to check his bike where it was lashed in the bed of my pickup truck. He turned back around and stretched up as far as he could and then looked back at me.
“Where are we now?” he asked, his voice a little gravelly from sleep. I glanced over and met his light blue eyes briefly.
“We’re not far from my turnoff--just past Nashville. Any requests where I drop you?”
He looked out into the rain that had been falling throughout the day. “You wouldn’t know of a good motorcycle mechanic, would you?”
I thought about it for a minute. “There’s a Harley dealership not too far from here--it’s right outside the Cool Springs mall.”
The redhead looked back at his bike again and snorted softly. “If you think my bike’s a Harley, you’ve got a few things to learn about motorcycles.”
I chuckled. “I grew up in Milwaukee; I know what a Harley is. It’s the only motorcycle place I know about, and it’s really close to where I live. And they’re open till about 7pm, too, so you should be able to get in there yet today.”
“I’ll take it.”
***
I helped him unload his bike and his bulky black duffel bag at the dealership, shook his hand, and drove away wondering what his name was.
***
“Goodnight, Jill,” I called to the pharmacist as we left Walgreens together late the next night. “See you tomorrow!”
I watched as she got into her car, started it, and pulled out of the parking lot. Jill was always afraid of being attacked late at night in our brightly lit parking lot in one of the least crime-ridden areas of the entire affluent city of Brentwood, Tennessee. I turned back to my truck, saw someone leaning against the tailgate, and immediately wished Jill were watching me get into MY car. Reaching into the pocket of my pharmacy technician’s smock, I pulled out the only weapon I had on me--a Viagra pen.
“Can I help you?” I called as I cautiously approached my truck. It looked like the biked from the day before, but you can never be too careful.
“You already have,” he replied in a familiar voice. “I was just driving through the lot here and recognized your truck—thought I’d say hi.”
I half-smiled and stopped a few paces out of his reach. “Well, hi. You have a name?”
“It’s Rich. I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself yesterday—I was exhausted, pissed off cuz my bike was broken, and trying desperately not to scare the only person at the rest stop with a pickup big enough to carry me and the bike anywhere.” He smiled as he finished, and his eyes twinkled in the white of the parking lot lights.
“I’m Beth. It’s nice to meet you, Rich. How’s the bike?” I asked, glancing over to where it leaned on its kickstand beside my truck.
He threw an exasperated, affectionate look at it. “It’s better. Not perfect, but then again it never has been.”
We stood looking at the bike in awkward silence for what seemed like ten minutes before Rich turned back to me and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Look, I was wondering if I could buy you a drink as a thank you. I don’t have much cash, but I feel like it’s the least I can do.”
I tucked my Viagra pen back into my pocket and slid out of my smock, tossing it into the back of my truck. “TGI Friday’s is open late,” I suggested, gesturing the restaurant next door. “And the beer’s cold.”
Rich flashed me a grin. “Sounds good to me.”
***
As soon as I opened my eyes, I knew I had had way too much to drink recently; the weak sunlight showing through the open curtains was enough to make me think twice about standing up too fast. I had a vague recollection of being in the passenger’s seat of my truck, directing someone to my apartment, and then I realized I was naked under the covers. I moaned and threw my arm over my eyes, hoping to pass out again before I remembered anything else.
There was a soft knock on my bedroom door, and then it opened a crack. “Are you okay? I thought I heard a sound a little like a hung-over groan.”
I swallowed and pulled the covers firmly up to my chin. “Ummm…yeah, I’m fine, it’s just the, uh…sunshine. And the headache. Not to mention the nausea.”
A hand with a steaming mug in it appeared through the doorway. “I’ve got something that will make you feel better. Can I come in?”
I sat up a little bit and looked around for my clothes, but didn’t see any sign of them. I sighed and resigned myself to my fate. “Sure, come on in.”
Rich opened the door slowly, a sympathetic grin on his face. “You should have told me you had a teaspoon tolerance, Beth. I didn’t mean to get you wasted.”
I rolled my eyes and immediately regretted it. “Not your fault. I didn’t mean to get me wasted either; it just sort of happened. It’s been a long week.”
Rich put the mug down on the bedside table and then snagged my bathrobe from its hook on the back of the bathroom door. He tossed it to me and turned away as I struggled to put the thing on under the covers.
“For the record, you directed me here, proceeded to take your clothes off in the living room and wander directly in here. Nothing else happened, except that I made you my friend Mac’s hangover cure. He got it from…well, an old friend of his who was into the herbal thing. It tastes pretty bad, but it’ll help, I promise.”
I took a quick sniff of the contents of the mug. “It smells like freshly cut grass.”
Rich glanced over his shoulder and then turned back around, crossing the room to sit at the foot of the bed. “Yes, it does.” He grinned as I took a sip and nearly gagged.
“Where’d you find this mug?” I gasped, trying to focus on the “No coffee, no workee” saying on the mug instead of the new roiling in my stomach. “I haven’t seen it in a while—not since the last time my sister visited and rearranged everything in the kitchen.”
“It was something that I dug out of a drawer, along with a copy of ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’ and a couple of these things,” he replied, holding up a purple hair scrunchie I’d been missing for weeks. I took it from him as I gulped more of the green stuff. “How’s that going down?”
I considered my stomach for a minute and was pleasantly surprised. “Not too bad, I guess. Better, actually. Wow, it works pretty fast.”
“Good. I figured I had to stick around and make sure you’d live.” Rich grinned at me, and I saw the twinkle in his eyes again. “Now that I’m pretty sure you will…”
I smiled back at him, nodding. “Give me a minute and I’ll drive you back for your bike.”
He shook his head and stood up. “Don’t worry about it. It’s a beautiful day, and it’s maybe a mile to the Walgreens? I’ll walk.”
“Oh. Okay, well…it was nice to meet you. And thanks for helping me in my drunken idiot phase. I’m sure I’ll remember I had a very good time last night sometime later today.” My smile turned sheepish as he grinned at me again.
“I’m sure you will. Catch you later, Beth. I think I’ll be in Nashville or hereabouts for a while; maybe we’ll run into each other again sometime.”
Rich flashed a tiny wave at me and closed the bedroom door behind him. I heard the apartment door close, drank the last of the green stuff, and lay back against my pillow.
“Here’s hoping, cutie.” I smiled and closed my eyes, drifting back to sleep.
Inspired by lyrics from Mz Lizzy:
GHOST
there's a letter on the desktop
that i dug out of a drawer
the last truce we ever came to
in our adolescent war
and i start to feel the fever
from the warm air through the screen
you come regular like seasons
shadowing my dreams
and the mississippi's mighty
but it starts in minnesota
at a place that you could walk across
with five steps down
and i guess that's how you started
like a pinprick to my heart
but at this point you rush right through me
and i start to drown
and there's not enough room
in this world for my pain
signals cross and love gets lost
and time passed makes it plain
of all my demon spirits
i need you the most
i'm in love with your ghost
i'm in love with your ghost
dark and dangerous like a secret
that gets whispered in a hush
(don't tell a soul)
when i wake the things i dreamt about you
last night make me blush
(don't tell a soul)
and you kiss me like a lover
then you sting me like a viper
i go follow to the river
play your memory like a piper
and i feel it like a sickness
how this love is killing me
i'd walk into the fingers
of your fire willingly
and dance the edge of sanity
i've never been this close
i'm in love with your ghost
unknowing captor
you never know how much you
pierce my spirit
but i can't touch you
can you hear it
a cry to be free
oh i'm forever under lock and key
as you pass through me
now i see your face before me
i would launch a thousand ships
to bring your heart back to my island
as the sand beneath me slips
as i burn up in your presence
and i know now how it feels
to be weakened like achilles
with you always at my heels
this bitter pill i swallow
is the silence that i keep
it poisons me i can't swim free
the river is too deep
though i'm baptized by your touch
i am no worse than most
in love with your ghost
you are shadowing my dreams
(in love with your ghost)
(in love with your ghost)
(in love with your ghost)
words and music by emily saliers
copyright 1994 bmi virgin music inc and godhap music (bmi)
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