They say you can't leave a person on the road if you need help, but in many cases people are afraid to take travelers because of rampaging bandits. I never walked in the direction of the current and did not believe in ridiculous stories. When I saw a man in need of help, I always helped him without thinking anything wrong about him.
Last summer, I was driving down the road that led me to the country house where my family was waiting for me. We had to go to the airport in the morning to catch a flight between Moscow and Budapest. This was the first time that my family and I had to go abroad in the summer. The sun was already hiding behind the horizon, and the drops of rain on my windshield reminded me that we had forgotten to bring an umbrella with us.
I was on my way to light my cigarette, and suddenly I saw a girl standing in front of my car on the road. When I got there, I stopped because I knew it was going to be very dark and then the girl's life would be in danger. After all, at night in a deserted area, and most importantly, given the fact that this road is rarely used by cars, the girl had all the chances, at least it will hurt.
When I got out of the car, I said hello and started asking her about the car. I went around the hood a little bit and after ten minutes, it was clear that I couldn't fix the car. I don't know what I thought then, but I invited her into my car so she wouldn't freeze. We had a little talk, and she was a very friendly girl. She must have been 25 years old, talking during the conversation, but I don't remember. We met and she said her name was Leah and that she had graduated from medical school last year.
After meeting her, we smoked a cigarette together. To be honest, I don't like it when a girl smokes, but since I didn't know her, I didn't even talk about it. She was well-dressed and well-groomed, and after talking to her, I got the impression that she was a very well-read and positive person. I asked her to come with me to the first settlement and find some specialists from the car repair shop to fix her car. She liked the idea and we were on our way.
We were probably on our way to the first settlement for 20 minutes, and during those 20 minutes she wouldn't let me get bored, telling jokes, stories from her biography, and talking about interesting diseases. These 15 minutes passed unnoticed and we were already in the nearest village. It was dark and it hit me that at such an hour, no car repair shop would work. I hadn't said anything to her yet, as much as I wanted to look like a fool.
After we'd been to a couple of car repair shops, she also realized that she couldn't fix the car today. I felt guilty and I didn't know what to do because I was late, and she had nowhere to sleep. We sat in the car for about 5 minutes without talking, then I thought we could sleep in my car, and in the morning when the workshops were open, she would drive with a specialist to her car, and in the meantime, I would drive to the country house and with my family I would go to the airport. I shared, I think with the girl and she, strange as it may seem, agreed.
I parked at the shop and started to prepare a car for the night. All this time, my wife kept calling and I couldn't answer her. I didn't know what to say to her. If I had told her the story of this girl and the most important thing was that we would be spending the next night in the same car together, she wouldn't have believed it.
When I called her back, I told her I'd sleep over at my friend's house and be at my dacha by 8:00. She broke through something and hung up on me, so I didn't call her back so I wouldn't make things worse. As a real gentleman, I offered her back seats and somehow dozed off in the driver's seat. I woke up this morning screaming at the saleswoman. She complained that I had parked right in front of the store and I was preventing customers from entering the store. I felt like I was being beaten up all night. When I woke up well, I couldn't find my cell phone in my pocket. There was no one in the backseat.
There was also no wallet in the pocket of the jacket I had covered it with at night. I realized I had been robbed, but even after that, I always took my companions. And you have to decide for yourselves whether you need to take the travelers or not.