“Its so dark out here, some tractor trailer might not have time to move over without hitting him,” that nagging voice chimed in.
“Well..anybody crazy enough to be out walking in all this deserves what they get,” she gasped defiantly under her breath, trying to wash the image of the hitchhiker out of her already overburdened mind.
“Yeah..you’re gonna feel really great when you pick up the paper in a day or two and see some poor, unfortunate guy either froze to death or got flattened down here on Route 29,” her conscience continued to grind.
“You’ll feel even worse when its you in the paper being found strangled to death by an insane drifter,” her common sense rightfully countered.
By now, Regina’s knuckles were white as she gripped the wheel, and not just from the stress of driving through such deplorable conditions. Quite a bit more internal dialogue volleyed back and forth inside Regina’s head as she sat erect and motionless in the driver’s seat.
Another mile marker tripped into the Prius’ rear view when suddenly the late model Toyota drifted into the slow down lane for the next exit up ahead.
“What do you think you’re doing?” her inner rationale begged, but no sane answer was forthcoming.
“Well..if you’re gonna do this..at least call somebody so they know where you are…just don’t tell them what you’re about to do,” Regina Wellstone made that final deal with herself as she took the exit then doubled back the way she came.
Driving south until she came across one of the state vehicle turnarounds on the highway, Regina proceeded northbound again, keeping her eyes peeled for the hitchhiker she’d just seen.
“Couldn’t have been more than maybe a dozen or so cars and trucks come by here since I passed him,” Regina whispered out loud, her gut filling with a mixture of dread and relief when he was no where to be seen.
Relief, that she didn’t have to make the ultimate decision whether or not to give him a ride, and dread, given the fact that she thought with all the stuff she was dealing with in her personal life, that maybe she was now starting to have hallucinations.
Regina had pretty much resigned herself to the idea that one of the other drivers had stopped and given the man a ride when she saw a shadowy figure taking refuge under the shelter of the highway overpass where she’d taken her detour minutes earlier.
___________________________________
It was a pretty dumb decision, even by his standards.
Anton Samuelson was a 20 year old exchange student from Switzerland who’d spent the previous semester at the University of Nebraska. While he hadn’t exactly made the Dean’s List, Anton had passed all his courses but decided instead of heading home for the holidays, he’d spend his Christmas break hitchhiking across the US the way he’d done several times back in Europe.
A true passion for adventure fueling him, Anton made it as far as Omaha before he realized he’d perhaps bitten off more than he could chew. Having grown up in a chilly climate and spending countless hours with his childhood friends skiing the Swiss Alps, cold weather wasn’t something that bothered Anton all that much.