After a while he stood up and came around to her window and assured her that it was O K and that what he did should do it. He waved and returned to his car. He then pulled back on the freeway. Her old car, 1957 Chevrolet, drove five or six car lengths and then her whole left rear wheel fell off , crashing and banging, into the weeds along the side of the road. Kathleen turned the engine off, left the keys in the ignition, and got out to see what had happened. The stranger backed up to the front of the Chevrolet, got out, and ran up to her. She got a good look at him as he crossed in front of her headlights. He thought the trouble was worse than he thought and he offered to give her a ride to the nearest service station. The stranger stood between her and her car. Kathleen looked over his shoulder at a light down the road. About a quarter of a mile away was an Atlantic Richfield, ARCO, station with lots of lighting. She thought that it was good because she had an ARCO credit card on her but had no money. He said he'd give her a ride to the station and that it was O. K. She didn't seem to have any bad vibes about getting in his car so she told him where she was going and she thought he was going there too.
She gathered up her baby and gotinto the man's car. As they were pulling out, she noticed the lights to her car were still on and remembered that the keys were still in the ignition. He smiled, went back to her car, turned off the lights, and put the keys in his pocket. Then he drove her away from her car ~~~~but not to the ARCO station. When he went by it she didn't seem too concerned but when he passed the next exit it dawned on her that something was not right. As long as he wasn't talking, neither was she. They went several more exits before he got off, and she just didn't say anything. It was he who was doing the driving. He started down a rocky road. Probably a deserted farm road. No one said anything for a long, long time. His windbreaker was open and she could see the white cloth of his shirt glowing in the moonlight. The driver started to pull over to the roadside but then he speeded up. He did this several times. She thought he was going to make a pass at her. She started talking and asked him if he always went around helping people on the road.
(From 2007 Zodiac paperback)
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