My car had broken down out in the middle of nowhere. It was a random thing I never anticipated when I set out for Barry’s cabin up in the Adirondacks. My plan was to get some alone time and finish my thesis without a bunch of distractions. My plan did not include hitting a monstrous pot hole and breaking an axle on some random country road. It also didn’t include no phone service and morphing into a hitchhiker with little hope of a car passing. But here I was.

I had locked the car, grabbed my phone, and contemplated which way to go. I knew behind me was a small town about ten miles back, but my map also showed another village in my general direction about five miles ahead so I opted for the unknown and started walking. It was the middle of the afternoon and a balmy 70 degrees, so I decided to just enjoy the walk.

The car crept up on me. I was lost in my thoughts and never heard it behind me until it pulled up and a guy stuck his head out the window.

“That your car back there? You need a lift to town?”

I looked at him, and he looked pretty much okay. He was driving a late model BMW and had on a shirt and tie so I figured him for some kind of desk worker. I paused, then decided ‘what the heck’ and went around to the passenger door.

“Thanks! I appreciate this. I just need to arrange for a tow at the next town.”

“You won’t find that in Mountain View, but I’m headed to Carrolton. They have a good garage there and the guy has a tow truck.”

“Works for me. This saves me a lot of hassle.”

He smiled and we chatted as we made our way along the deserted country road. We passed Mountain View pretty quickly and on we went. It seemed we had been driving for a while when I finally said, “How much farther to Carrolton?”

“Not far now. I just have to make one stop on my way. I have something I need to drop off.”

“Oh. Okay. Where?”

He stopped on an old bridge over a narrow river and turned off the engine.

“Right here.”

Then he got out and went to the truck and dragged out what looked like a piece of rolled up carpet and tossed it over the side and into the water. I stared at him when he got back in the car.

“Do you always toss your discards into the river like that?”

He smiled.

“Only the dead bodies.”

And we headed off to Carrolton.