trust the stranger

This tale is not intended to elude corn nor pukedom. A dude was travelling alone in his car on a Saturday night to visit his parents. Some 100 ks from Krakow, at dusk, he saw two hitchhikers, a guy and a girl, waving down cars with their backpacks perched against a tree. With a screech of the tires the dude stopped his car, reversed and picked up the couple. They turned out to be Estonian, hitchhiking their way back home after spending a backpacking holiday in Croatia. Five days on the road they were trying to make their way to Warsaw by the night in question. The driver attempted to speak to them in Russian. It turned out that the first year and fourth year uni students were much more comfortable with English. They chatted for some 60 ks, before the driver announced he would be turning off the main highway making his way to his parents place. Night had set in, and the driver suggested he would drop the couple off at a nearby motel. The motel was booked out. The Estonians, in the middle of nowhere started to look anxious. The dude then said he would drive them to a hotel that he knew of at the other end of town. Once the three entered into what looked like an unaffordable harbouring for the two budget travellers (who at this stage started to display signs of distress at the situation), the driver dude pulled out his wallet and paid for their accommodation plus breakfast. Gobsmacked the hitchhikers hugged the driver before they said their goodbyes and the driver left. After years of being at the receiving end of hitchhiking hospitality, the driver knew that what goes around comes around.

It is excellent to be back home in the arms of my driver dude.