One Page #13

The ocean is two hours away now. When I met Sam the ocean was dour hours away. I met her at a rest stop. She was sitting on the roof of her car with her head in her hands. There was on one else around. Cars sped my on the freeway but no one was stopping. It had just started to rain as I pulled of the road. When I saw the girl on the roof of her car I pulled into the spot next to her. I had been driving for about nine hours and hadn’t spoken to anyone since the day before when I stopped for coffee and said all of hi and thank you to the girl at the counter. She hadn’t even looked at me. I was lonely. I got out of my car and tentatively asked the girl if she was all right. She lifted her head and looked at me. She had been crying; her eyes were dry now, but still red. She nodded vaguely. Do you need some help, I asked. She shook her head. Do you want a soda, and I nodded toward the vending machine that stood next to the building with the bathrooms. She nodded. I smiled at her, and told her I would be right back. I climbed the short hill to the bathroom building, got to cokes, and went back to our cars. I handed her one after popping the top, and the popped my own soda top and we guzzled together. We had both been thirsty apparently. I asked her where she was going and she said Boston. I said that I was too. She looked slightly hopeful. Finally she opened her mouth and told me her whole story in one long breath, the words ran together so quickly I had to really concentrate to get it all. Her car had broken down and she was on the way to her sister’s wedding the following day, but now she was stuck here at the rest stop and had been here for about three hours and no one had even looked at her when they pulled up. I held out my hand and introduced myself, and she told me her name was Sam. I pulled her hand and she stood up from the roof of her car. I told her to get her things and I would drive her to Boston. I said it with so much force that I think we were both surprised. And she had no choice but to follow my instructions. She lifted out a bag from the back seat, locked her car, and got into the passengers seat. I pulled back onto the highway and joined the flow of traffic that was heavy now in the waning light. She thanked me over and over and I told her to shut up, so she did. Then we laughed and I asked her about herself. She spoke for a while and then looked out the window. We were no one hour from the ocean. As the city came into sight she told me that her sister was forcing her to wear a dress to the wedding, and that she hadn’t work a dress since her graduation from the fifth grade. I smiled, and told her that she would look terrible in a dress.