"Thanks!" the hitch hiker smiled, "I'm afraid I'm going to wet your car."
"Oh, don't worry about it," I shrugged, "It'll dry. Where are you going?"
"Just into the next town. I need to get some stuff."
Rain pelted the windscreen and the car swayed slightly as a gust of wind blew up over the bridge as we crossed over.
"Wasn't a great place to be hitching from - I nearly didn't see you." I watched the road carefully.
The hitcher said nothing, he just shifted in the seat and I noticed his nails were filthy black and long as claws.
"So are you just out for a night on the town?" I asked, glancing at him nervously.
"Every now and then I need to get food so I hitch into a town", the hitcher nodded.
"So you live round here?"
"I've been living in a cave for the past six months. A deep cave up in the hills far from any town. It's quiet up there. I've felt a peace I never felt any time, any place before."
I didn't know what to say. What kind of nutter was this?
"And what do you do?" I was genuinely curious.
"I like sitting for long times feeling the rain on my skin."
I laughed.
"No, what do you do?".
"I light a fire some evenings and listen to the flames. And sometimes I cook mushrooms in it and they taste so good I'm glad to be alive. Other times I lie on my back in the grass making shapes in the clouds, and often I pick blackberries when the moon is full and foxes howl in the distance."
"Ah, you're unemployed!" Poor fellow, no wonder he's living in a cave.
"I own a factory near here making tyres - the business is doing phenomenally well. I'm so busy with orders I hardly have time to eat." It was true.
"Well, I normally don't take applicants without a cv, but in this case I could make an exception, seeing as you really need a job. You'd get two weeks holidays and-"
"I'm sorry to disapoint you, but my time is not for sale", the hitcher said very quietly, "I don't have enough life time to sell it to anybody."
"Well, if that's the way you want it..." Of all the ungrateful bastards!
"Actually, I'm not going much further than this, I'll drop you at the next exit."
"Fine." The hitcher gathered his bag off the floor.
I left him off at the next town and he waved cheerfully as he walked off through the puddles.
Of all the ungrateful bastards...