What a terrible start to a day. The company calling me out of bed to take a trip in a hurry out of town, just before leaving the house I had an argument with my wife and before getting a block from home, a flat tire. Good way to keep one's mind on anything but what it is supposed to be on. The company was getting more and more demanding and leaving me with less time for my home life, my wife as mad because I was hardly ever at home anymore, and not surprisingly she was increasingly moody and frequently cut off sex for what seemed an eternity, but actually was more like about eight months or so. Of course this left me frantic, but still I wanted nothing to do with the problem. I was even too tired to masturbate - except once in a great while. Frustration and more frustration.
Although this trip wasn't all that far from the house, it was still too far to commute home daily. I assumed I would have to spend a week or two of lonely nights in a motel with not a damn thing to do after work except to hit a local bar for a couple of drinks, watch TV, and then go to sleep. Ugh, so boring.
Well tire fixed and I was on the road, but it sure isn't getting much lighter out. Looks like it could pour down just at any time. Just another aggravation if it does. Driving in the rain isn't a pass time I enjoy either. It makes it so much harder to see and the drive that much longer.
Of course with my luck it started pouring. Rain and buckets, and still got darker yet, which made it hard to even see the road, so I had to slow down quite a bit. Then it happened. There appeared to be a man right in front of me on the road. I swerved to miss him and it looked like he flew into the ditch. I was hitting the brakes and then backed up to look for him. I got out of the car and was relieved to see he was climbing up out of the ditch, so I ran over and offered my hand. He needed my help to climb out the final few feet as the slope was steep and slippery. I looked around and to my horror I saw tire tracks off of the road fast disappearing but there nonetheless. I had driven off of the road and almost hit this man.
I was scared as hell that I had nearly hit him, but the guy seemed to be taking it pretty well, saying "That sure was a close call."
He appeared to be about my height although perhaps a bit lighter in weight. Naturally he was covered in mud, and I found myself repeatedly apologizing, but he laughed-off the incident, saying "No big deal. There's no harm, just mud."
I asked him if he needed a ride somewhere. He told me he sure picked a bad day to hitchhike anywhere and could sure use a lift. Hell, he was more worried about getting a little dirt in my car than the close call he had had. I told him not to worry about it.
He stuck his backpack in the rear and climbed in and away we went. I was actually kind of glad to have someone to talk to a little to take away the boredom of the drive. I asked where he was headed and he said wherever I wanted to drop him was fine as he was not heading anywhere in particular, just taking a trip for fun more than anything else. He was up for about anything at all anywhere it took him.
We hit it off pretty good and just talked about whatever came up. The weather, politics, sports, just ordinary everyday stuff. Time flew much better and then it was time to stop for lunch. I found a nice little place and told him I had to buy to help pay for not paying attention before and after a little protest he let me and then we were off again. Again, also, it didn't take long, it seemed, and it was getting close to supper and we had arrived at the town I was headed for. I pulled into the motel where I was to stay and asked him to join me for supper again. He said he had already imposed on me for lunch and he still looked terrible to be going into what appeared to be a better type of place.
It was then it dawned on me, what I had completely forgotten about; he was still caked with mud, even if it was now dry. I laughed and said "The hell with it. Come up to my room and use the shower. It's the least I can do since I caused you to get dirty.
He also laughed, answering "What a nice offer. I'll be happy to take you up on it."