In her little brown suitcase...

In her little brown suitcase she carried everything she owned. Tell her story…

I came around the curve slowly and saw a woman standing by the roadside just before a shallow crossing which was almost underwater. Automatically I slowed to check the depth of the water, and then realised that the woman was hitchhiking.

Her dress was a washed out pink floral and her shoes had seen many better days. With her graying hair tied back in a ponytail, she appeared hopeful of a lift but resigned to waiting on the roadside for many hours if need be.

The little brown suitcase was battered and resembled one I had taken to school every day in my high school years. She told me later that she carried everything she owned in that suitcase, but not once in the years of our friendship did I ever see the contents of that case.

We first met on that sunny April afternoon when I stopped to give her a lift; I, who was never usually tempted to stop for hitchhikers, and she, who had never before wanted to hitchhike, met that day and forged a most unlikely friendship which continues to this day.

We travelled many miles during that day and night, and by the time I reached my home we had become firm friends; I knew that somehow we were destined to travel the same path for some considerable time.

                                          6 March 2012