Gift from God 19
blackberry bushes and into the cluster of thick Manzanita bushes nestled beneath the tall pine trees. Something was wrong. I could hear the sound of the small compact car revving its motor, screech at the corner, and start back down the road towards us. “I’m right behind you. Go, go!” I yelled. “Don’t look back. Just keep going, up and into the brush!” My heart beat fast, my head was spinning, and I felt like I was going to die. I ran as fast as I could behind my sister. “Jodi, who was that weird man?” Michelle said quietly, as we sat hidden in the bushes peering out towards him. He had stopped his car and was now standing on the side of the road looking for us. “He seemed really weird,” said Michelle. “Oh my God, I know, something about that man scares me, he looks like he could be one of those crazy religious people,” I replied. We watched him for a minute. When he didn’t find us, he got into his car and drove off. I had a feeling my sister and I narrowly escaped our demise. As a teenager in the late 1970s, I lived an hour from the closest town, and since my mother wasn’t around to take us anywhere, she encouraged us to hitchhike. We met some interesting people, mostly hippies or older folks or friends from the hill. I have to admit after that horrifying hitchhiking experience with my sister, I seriously wondered just how many teenage girls met their end hitchhiking, and why they didn’t listen to the knowingness in the pit of their stomach when something seemed wrong.