We spotted him coming off the on ramp. I think Kerbang said, �Don�t you even think about picking him up.�

I replied, �Dude. Listen. Anyone holding that sign, can�t be that crazy. It�s much to funny.�

Kerbang said, �Funny?!, No the guy who holds that sign is much to crazy. We are going to die.�

�No way,� I replied, �I�ll give him the seatbelt routine.�

�The Seatbelt Routine?�

As we pulled over, our tires zipping on the wake up strips, the man through his sign into the road and jogged towards the passenger�s side door. Kerbang looked pretty nervous. As the man approached he had a homeless look about him, though his clothes were somewhat clean. The man was somewhere in his mid-forties, though I wouldn�t be surprised if he was younger, and just worn older through his time on the road.

�Hi there. Where ya headed?� I stated as I buzzed the window down.

�Anes ware but here sirs,� he said with a gruff voice. Kerbang might be right. We might have a live one on hand.

�Well you gonna have to pick a location that�s reasonable sir. I want a beginning AND an end to this trip.�

�Iz want tis go tis de Empiz State Buildin.�

Kerbang turned to me and mouth the words �DRIVE AWAY�

I was undaunted, �Well sir, that�s not really on the radar. Could I interest you in someplace a bit duller?�

�Iz heer yaz. Yoz be kindly to me, Iz by yuz the McDonzds.�

�How about we just give you some money?� Kerbang asked hoping to escape from this situation.

�Naz. Whez Iz be gonin, we dizn�t need dem monize.�

This made me think this man was indeed crazy. Where he was going was clearly the gutter, and in the gutter is the spot where I felt money was the most important.

�Well then sir, how�s Framingham? Does that work to your plans.�

�Iz the wrong way.�

Kerbang rebutted, �Well it�s on this road, and this is the side of the highway you are hiking on? Don�t you want to be on the otherside?�

�Soz he sez�soz it be.� Both of us were a little confused, but this man seemed satisfied with this and come around my side to get behind my seat. Kerbang groaned as he realized that his rational argument to the man�s irrational claim lead him to accept our invitation for a ride. Kerbang hasn�t had a good day.

As he came up along my side, I rolled down the window.

�Now listen close. It�s a dangerous world. I am only going to say this once. You are taking a big chance by getting into this car. You are not going to be allowed to wear a seatbelt. This is because if I even smell a little funny business I will drive this car into a tree in an attempt to kill you or incapacitate you. However, you should know that if I just happened to get into an accident or fender bender you will not be wearing a seatbelt, and will likely die. Clear?� I unlocked the door.

�Iz not be actin funny. Iz will not fear you. Iz only the fearer of dez God.�

Kerbang whispered to himself, �great�

The man sat silent for next twenty minutes of the trip, until we neared a McDonald�s rest stop. He jutted his arm out from the back seat in between Kerbang and myself, pointed at the McDonalds. His nails were dirty and soiled. Despite that, His hooded sweatshirt was remarkably clean.

�Yuz wait here.� He said. The only words he had said to us since he had boarded our vehicle. He dashed out towards the rest stop with a crazy flailing run. It look rather silly.

�Dude, lets go.�

�Listen Kerbang, this guy is a little crazy, but he�s been sitting quietly.�

�I have a bad feeling about this, and I never say that.�

�I think that you should relax. Maybe this wasn�t my best idea, but it could be worse. I mean he really could be talking all crazy in the back. He seems nice. No one else would have stopped. He would be out here for days.�

�Since when did you become the Good Samaritan?� BANG. I jumped about ten feet. The crazy guy was back with grub. He had pounded on the window. I lowered it and he handed me the McDonald�s bag. Then he retreated to the back seat. He got us a number six, with 12 nuggets. Kerbang and I hadn�t eaten all day. We fought over the fries like Jackals.

�Thank you.� We both said to the man, as we began to drive off.

�Iz whaz you deseve.� This statement didn�t make my stomach rest easy. This guy was getting pretty weird.

As we drove along the highway, I noticed he was writing something. I was pleased to see that he was literate.

Kerbang was feeling a little ill from wolfing down those fries from earlier, so I let him finish our coke. He thought that he was going to be okay.

Getting close to Framingham, we sighted the bridge where the Pike and 495 intersect. The man, who we never got the name of, started making crazy noises in the back of the car. It sounded like when monkeys are pissed off in movies because the scientist has done something much to evil for them to sit around quietly. Instead they hoot and holler and bang on the cage.

But he wasn�t in a cage.

He covered my eyes.

Panic shot through me. We were on a bridge. Swerving was fatal. This man had played us.

�Iz knoz God is a woman.� He cackled, �I can heaz ze voize in my head.�

Raging at 60 miles per hour with a blind driver, Kerbang, unable to properly react to moment actually asked him in a panicked sort of way, �why?� I think he was ready for this to be his last question he ever asked.

�Cuz zhe�s always bitchin.�

This is the point where I locked the breaks as the car came to a screeching halt in the middle of the highway. The man�s grasp of my eyes was loosed and I pulled my head out of reach. He however, was uninterested in me.

He opened the passenger rear door and ran across a lane of highway to the breakdown lane. As he got out of the car, his notepad fell out into the back seat. From there, he leapt over the rail of the bridge head first towards the highway below.

�Holy Shit,� I exclaimed.

The next thing that we saw was unexplainable. Almost as quickly as he was gone, he came up. He looked cleaner, and was naked. His clothes had fallen off.

He was flying. His body grew smaller as he jettisoned through the clouds, breaking off up into the sky, and then disappearing from view. We were stunned. Though surprisingly calm.

�Did we just get a free lunch from God?�

�There is no Free Lunch��

I turned to the backseat as we started driving. Kerbang read me the note that he left behind.

It made me feel cold, and numb.

I was in my room. I woke up to a sole beam of sunlight glaring onto my face. I closed the shades.