Tales from the Trail #06: My long-lost Brother Buddy …
I was in the town of Oneida on this day, and despite the heat and my aching feet I steadily hobbled up the entire 2-mile length of the town’s main strip, first stopping briefly at the local Taco Bell. I was incredibly tired at this point – so tired that I ended up falling asleep standing up while trying to hitchhike in front of that same establishment. It didn’t feel right to nap inside Taco Bell, so I made my way thereafter up the road to the local Pizza Hut, where I first tried (again unsuccessfully) to hitchhike outside its doors, then went within to sit awhile in its lovely air conditioned interior (with great thanks given to the employees there who fluidly allowed me to do so), before finally heading across the street – first to try hitchhiking one final time that day, and then to fall deeply (almost involuntarily) asleep for about an hour directly in front of the abandoned restaurant located there … I awoke thereafter with somewhat of a start (that odd waking we all know where one doesn’t know exactly where one is or why) and then shook off my slumber and made my way, bit by bit & step by step & store by store, up the strip until I finally arrived at the local Subway shop at the very end of town. It was still far too hot to consider walking for any sizable distance at all (and frankly the later-day traffic was still too thick to safely navigate that particular highway – what with its lack of any proper shoulders and all), so I hobbled into the Subway, told the employees on hand about my Walk, received permission to sit there awhile until the heat & the traffic died down, and then proceeded to do just that …
And this would have been – quite typically – the end of the matter, were it not for the presence of “Buddy”* and his two daughters. You see, while I was sitting there waiting for the Sun to further set and the traffic to further wane, “Buddy” had read the back of my smock and then, to his credit, had the courage to open up and ask me about the same. And what followed was a deep & touching conversation – about kindness and social responsibility and courage and – for lack of a better term – faith. “Buddy” found out during our talk (after asking me about the same) that I only eat when offered food, and that I never ask for the same outright; a fact that had him almost literally jumping at the chance to buy me a meal. Then, after I had received my early dinner (a quite delicious vegan sandwich – props to the Subway staff on hand for making such a fine one), he told me that he wished he could give me a ride down the road (he had, in the course of our chat, learned about my injuries and the difficulty I was having in walking at all, much less dozens of miles at a time). Alas, he had to get his daughters home to their mother – which I completely understood (of course) – and I thanked him intensely and wished him well as he waved and departed for home …
And I thought this would be the end of the encounter, and yet The Way – as it regularly did – seemed to have other plans. For after I later rose from my finished meal and started walking that night’s long jaunt along the roadway, who should pull over next to me but “Buddy” himself! He beckoned me over to his car and told me that he couldn’t stop thinking about me & my Walk and how truly inspirational our earlier encounter had been for him, so he had headed back out to find me and offer me the ride he wished he had earlier provided (!!!) … And so that was what he most certainly did, driving me some 18 miles all the way to the far outskirts of Whitley City, where he then gave me 2 vegan Cliff Bars and and a big hug while effusively stating that our meeting had completely changed his life. And so it was that we took a selfie together and shared mutual effusions of gratitude for one another, before he then drove off into the glimmering evening; leaving me to sit calmly by the roadside and weep tears of heartfelt joy that a real & deep (i.e. obviously life-altering) Connection had once again been forged by this Pilgrimage.
*As you, the reader, might well have realized, “Buddy” was not this friend’s actual name; this being yet another meaningfully inspiring encounter where I neglected at the time to ask permission to use the other’s name when & if the tale of our chance meeting was indeed made public.
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