hitchhiker road trips when you are engulfed in flames david sedaris

Do all hitchhikers get propositioned? Photo by: Lycaon/Wiki

So far, “Road Trips” is my second favourite story in this book of essays, “The Understudy” being my first. I think when I find Sedaris being remotely sincere, I tend to have more of a connection with the story, hence my love of the ones that feature his partner, Hugh.

While I don’t believe that every hitchhiker is propositioned with an invitation to sex, I’ve never hitchhiked. Apparently Sedaris has…and quite a bit. I suppose if I was telling a story about hitchhiking, I might leave out all the times I just got a ride and only include the real off-the-wall instances, as well. Or, I suppose, I’d just make them up. (Statistic: hitchhikers are more likely to be run over than assaulted.) However, I do think that there is a believable element of truth in the two instances Sedaris is talking about in this essay.

At least, being a non-hitchhiker, I can imagine this could happen.

Funny first instance: Sedaris has not come out to family yet about his homosexuality but when pressed to have oral intercourse with the driver’s wife, he awkwardly blurts himself out of the closet and is quickly dumped on the side of the road. Funny.


Even funnier, the tow-truck driver with a dent in his forehead (from a hatchet, Sedaris speculates) persisting in a conversation about sex in a most diligent way when Sedaris desperately tries to change the subject by talking about a non-existent girlfriend. I find this situation most believable because I have had experience with people who won’t let it go (not sex and not in a tow-truck but the same idea). They think they are being very subtle and crafty, bringing up the subject of conversation a million different ways, but instead it comes across as sloppy and dogged.

Funny.

But the sentimental part of the story (which is a little deeper and not as transparent and probably just my imagination) was that Sedaris was a virgin during both of these experiences and waiting for that special someone. I think that’s sentimental, isn’t it?

Maybe I’m reaching.

First Line, Last Words

“The house I grew up in is located in a subdivision, and when my family first arrived the front yards were, if not completely bare, then at least close to it.”

“The man would pull over, and I would take my place by the side of the road, a virgin with three dollars in his pocket, and his whole life ahead of him.”

Quotable

“‘Oh goodness, I can’t give him a ride.  He looks too lumpy.’”

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