"The kid"

Hitching out of Irvine was not an easy task, it is difficult to describe the feeling that overcomes you as 100's of 1000's of frantic, flustered, and chronically frustrated drivers pass you by in the heat of the day, pretending to busy themselves with changing the radio station, and refusing to make eye contact. Something like being invisible, it gets to a point if you wait long enough, that you really do wonder, can these people see me? Then you remind yourself that it is absurd to think such thoughts and the whole thing becomes funny. I laugh out loud and try to send out a smile, and some positive energy. About 5 hours into my character building session, a teenager pulls off on the shoulder and looks at me franticly as if to say... hurry up get in the car. He looks absolutely harmless, so I skip the formalities, like where are you headed, and is it ok if I film you? I throw my enormous bag in his back seat, and jump in. It turns out the kid is from Texas, and is headed all the way to San Fransisco. I am immediately reminded of how good things throughout my entire life, have consistently sprouted from the worst of situations , and I make a mental note never to despair about catching a ride again. 3 hour's into the trip we had completely dissected the kids entire life, he was a recent high school graduate from a private school, and the sole child of two intellectuals that desperately wanted to send him East to attend a prestigious ivy league school. He had some very different thoughts though, He claimed that in a rebellious fervor he had built a small empire dealing marijuana back in Texas, and was currently headed to San Fransisco to meet with his supplier. I quickly wrote this comment off, and assumed it was complete braggadocio. This kid probably thought that any respectable hitchhiker would be impressed with his sense of all things worldly, and had thusly concocted this story to gain my approval. Regardless of my doubts of his sincerity we reached San Fransisco both of us feeling as though we had made a new friend in the world. He was quick to offer up the couch in his large hotel room at the Hilton, I said thanks, and he said I will be right back, I have to meet somebody down the street . I gratefully laid down my gear in the plush hotel room, and quickly fell asleep. 1 hour later the door opens, and my host stumbles through the door,shoulders slumped, tears in his eyes as he falls on the hotel bed in child like fashion. By the time the poor kid pulled himself together, and had built up the courage to speak, I was all ears. With wet eyes, and a quivering lip, he softly stated, I just lost $90,000........... Any part of me that had doubted this kids initial sincerity flew out the window. I have seen the look of true desperation before, both in my own life, and in the faces of suffering people all over the world, it is not a look that is easily manufactured. The story went like this.....Kid walks down the street to meet his contact, ignorantly leaves his bag in contacts car, goes in to a restaurant for five minutes. When they come out all the cars on the street had their windows broken, and personal effects stolen, Kids scarred to death because an official exchange never took place. I felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility to help this guy, he clearly had no business in this lifestyle, and had the rare gift of being born surrounded by love,intelligence,and money. I had already spent some time counseling him from afar in the car, regarding his decisions to abandon his family in pursuit of a career in drugs, but he needed some well thought out guidance. At this unique juncture I thought he might actually listen to me, so I made a rare decision to operate against my instincts, and I spent the night in the Hilton, went to breakfast with the kid, and unloaded some carefully worded advice his way before I said goodbye. An interesting start to the my Bay area adventures.