I was hitchhiking home from uni for the long spring break. It's a cheap way to travel and you get to see a bit of the country. I know. I've heard all the arguments. It's dangerous. You never know who you might meet. People vanish when they go hitchhiking.
Geez. Give me a break. It's just as dangerous in the city. Probably even more so. How many times do you get drive-by shootings out in the country? All the yahoos are in the city. Far more victims for them.
This doesn't mean I take foolish chances. I check out my lifts and only accept rides from women or cars with families. I somehow doubt some guy is going to be overcome with lust with his wife sitting next to him. Could happen, but I'm willing to take those sort of odds.
My latest lift was a no-brainer. Two old grannies in a car that looked older than them, if that was possible. They looked at me, standing there smiling and hitching a ride, and tut-tutted between themselves. Then the one nearest me wound down her window a little and asked where I was going.
I told her my ultimate destination and she just nodded, as though to indicate that she'd heard of the big city and wasn't surprised that a young woman would be hitching in that direction. Finally she got to the point of offering a ride.
"We're going as far as Penston, dearie. It's about fifty miles down the road. You can come with us if you like."
I liked. I hopped in and we all introduced ourselves. The two old women were Mabel and Gertie. Sisters.
"But everyone calls us Granny and Auntie," said Mabel. "I'm Granny. You might as well call us that. It's what we're used to."
"I'll do that, Granny," I said politely. "My name's Sally."
I told them a little more about myself, as they seemed really interested. Twenty, not married, living with my parents when I'm not at uni. Doing a course in Graphic Design.
We drove off towards Penston. For an old lady, Granny drove fast. I kept expecting a cop to pull us over. Auntie must have noticed the way I looked at the speedo, because she gave a little cackle.
"Worried about us getting a ticket, lovie?" she asked.
I just gave a little shrug. Granny on the other hand snorted.
"I'd like to see the day that our Brian tries to give me a ticket. I'd give him what-for, I would."
After that the two old ladies started talking about our Jason. They were worried that he might be getting sickly. Apparently he hadn't been to his workshop for two days, just staying at home and wandering around. The way they described it I suspected that some poor old man was starting to develop dementia, but I didn't have the heart to suggest it.
"Have you had a doctor out to see him?" I asked.
This suggestion was met with derisive snorts from both the old girls.
"Doctor," sneered Auntie. "Nothing a doctor can do that we can't do better."
"Right," agreed Granny. "We know how to cheer our Jason up. He'll be fine by tomorrow."
It wasn't long and we were approaching Penston.
"Well, we're here, dearie," said Granny. "Before you go on into the town you must stop and have a cup of coffee and some cake. Give you the energy for the day."
I didn't really want to put them to the trouble, but Granny insisted, Auntie backed her up and I was thirsty. So we pulled up to this big old house and I went in with them.
The two old dears practically skipped into the house, glad to be home, while I followed more sedately. As soon as we were inside, Auntie slammed the door with a bang and Granny was calling out loudly.
"Jason. You there, Jason? We're home. Jason."
Through Granny's yelling I heard a door close and then this monster was coming down the passageway. I almost screamed when I first saw it. Then some light from a window hit him and I realised it was a man. A big man. Huge. Six foot six at least, with shoulders like a bull. If this was Jason, and he was feeling poorly, I'd hate to meet him when he was well.
"Granny, Auntie," he said, his voice deep and rumbling. "I sort of guessed you were home when the door closed. You don't need to slam it, you know. I have fixed it so it works properly."
"I know, Jason," said Auntie. "I just forget at times."
"Enough of that," snapped Granny. "In case you hadn't noticed, we have a guest. Her name is Sally. Sally, this is Jason, my Grandson."
I nodded politely and held out my hand, wondering if I'd get it back. Jason took hold of it firmly but gently. No broken bones or crushed fingers.
"We found Sally hitch-hiking. I said to Auntie that she's just the thing and Auntie agreed. We've noticed that you've been a bit out of sorts lately, not going to your workshop or anything and we knew just what you needed to snap you out of it. Her. Why don't you take the silly tart down to your room and fuck the daylights out of her. You'll feel so much better afterwards. We'll go and put the kettle on for some coffee afterwards."
With that astounding suggestion, Granny and Auntie waltzed happily off towards what I assumed was the kitchen. I tried to snatch my hand out of Jason's so that I could run, but his hold was a lot tighter than I'd realised.
"Relax," he said with his deep rumbling voice. "If you do a runner the old girls will get all excited and may even chase after you. Not good for them at their age. I find it's always best to just humour them. Just come on down to my room for a few moments. You'll be fine."
With that he ambled back down the hallway, towing me behind him. He took me into what proved to be a large bedroom. Half the room was taken up by a king size bed, and even that looked as though it might be a bit small for him. Apart from the standard dresser and wardrobe there was also a desk with a PC on it.
The PC was on, and there was a really fine wardrobe displayed on the screen. I must have looked a little surprised at Jason's choice of viewing material, because he noticed and laughed.
