I had been on the road for days. Traveling from Texas to California without a shower in between let me know hitch hiking wasn't easy. I was riding in a truck with an old man who had promised me work driving a tow truck once we got to his home town in California. I remember once stopping at a gas station in Arizona and taking off one of my shoes to check on my battered feet. The socks I had put on three days before were matted to my feet and looked totally gross. I just put my shoes back on and wondered why the hell I had left home. At 18 years old this was the craziest thing I had ever done.
I recall rolling into the old man's home town and not knowing what to expect. It was early in the morning and as soon as we entered his family's house I was completely humiliated. I was covered in road dirt and had not taken a shower in days. I smelled horrible. And there to greet us were his beautiful wife and three daughters.
I immediately wanted to run back to Texas. However the girls seemed to take no notice of me and quickly began to make their father at home. While mom and the oldest daughter began to make breakfast the younger two daughters sat him down and took off his shoes. The youngest daughter who I later learned was my age and named Maggie ran to the bathroom to start a shower for her dad.
This whole time I sat on the corner of a sofa that was in a corner of the living room and was pleased to be ignored. Julisa who was the middle child proceeded to remove her father's shirt. Then to my surprise she unbuckled her dad's pants and began to pull them off. At this point I was beyond anything I had ever experienced and knowing I was far from home made the anxiety unbearable.
Maggie then came running from the bathroom to let her dad know the water was ready. Julisa went on to collect her daddy's dirty clothes and walked away to what must have been a laundry room.
Maggie bent down on one knee and took her daddy's had and began to lead him to the bathroom. Before she turned to leave to the bath she glanced in my direction. She must have seen a pitiful sight in me. At first I wanted to melt into the walls and disappear, but then I saw the look in her eyes. She wasn't what any guy on the street would call beautiful, but when she looked into my eyes and made me feel that she understood how scared I was she became the most beautiful thing in all the world to me. Even though I could see in her eye's how sad she was I could also see that she was worried for me. She led her dad to the bathroom disappearing into the room with him.