The Ride

It seems like it was another lifetime ago. Like so much time has passed that it couldn't possibly have happened this time around. But it did. Hubby and I were laying in bed discussing teenagers and Superman Syndrome (SS) last night. You know what I'm talking about, the "it wont ever happen to me". In that conversation I was reminded of a time that I myself was inflicted with this particular disorder.
I was about 16, cute as a button but didn't know it. A very rebellious kid for so many reasons I wont even go into now. At that point in my life I lived about 15 minutes from Washington DC. It may be the capital but it is not a very safe place to hang out. Whenever I needed to go somewhere I would hitchhike. Of course, I didn't have any clue as to how stupid that would be. I thought I could handle my own, proving my own infliction with SS. I remember one particular night I had been at my boyfriends house. It was getting late, somewhere around 10 or so and I needed to head home. My boyfriend walked with me for awhile but he lived about 30 minutes away by car so he couldn't go the entire way. Anytime a car would come by I would stick my thumb out trying to catch a ride. We walked for awhile before anyone finally stopped. When a car did stop I told the boyfriend bye and hopped in. I remember it was an older man, probably in his 50's. I didn't think much of it at first but I began to get uncomfortable pretty early in the ride. I thought it was odd that he wasn't speaking to me. After about 15 minutes of silence I told him to pull over that I could walk from there. He looked at me for a long minute and said no. I started to get kinda scared then he started to talk. He told me he had 2 girls that probably weren't much older than I was and if he ever caught them out hitchhiking he would beat them until they couldn't sit. He asked me if I had any idea how dangerous what I was doing was. At that point I didn't have much to say. To be honest, I was pretty shocked. Nobody had ever given me a hard time about giving me a ride before. He read me the riot act all the way home. When we arrived at my house he wouldn't unlock the door until I finished listening to what he had to say. He told me that he had never picked up a hitchhiker before and he hadn't planned on picking up another. The only reason he stopped to give me a ride was so nobody else would. I remember he said that I might not have enough care for my life to just put it at risk but he did, a perfect stranger.
Now I wasn't a stupid kid, or sheltered by any means. My parents were considered upper class but money doesn't mean love nor does it mean you know how to be a parent. So I knew there was a possibility of danger, I just didn't give it much thought. For some reason when this stranger said these things to me it made me think. That was the last time I ever stuck my thumb out for a ride.
I never saw him again, never knew his name. He made a difference in my life and didn't even know it.