Strange Strangers

September 16th, 2011

Brunswick park: full undercarriage support.

I think Steve was starting to think we'd never make it out of Maine, let alone Brunswick, or even Helen's home. After spending three full days with this wonderful woman, and being stuffed silly with rainbow variety sherbert it was time to hit the road and continue our trek down south. Other than "in the general direction of Miami", we had no idea where we were headed. We hopped on our bikes and booked it down hwy 1. We shot through Freeport and past the L.L. Bean Headquarters (I got a little soggy eyed when I saw the outlet malls and dozens of signs for Starbucks- oh how I missed these little luxuries), managed to dead-end at I-295 in Portland, adding hours and miles to our day, but eventually, about 49 miles later we found ourselves in front of a big blue house in an itty-bitty corner called "Waterboro".

I always got so nervous around the 4 O'clock hour. I had 3 simple responsabilities: 1. pedal and stay upright. 2. Don't die. 3. Find a place for us all to lay our heads each night. (And it was the third that concerned me the most.)

I hated picking the homes, I made Adam and Steve do that, the less I had to think about it- the better. God knows I wasn't afraid to knock on doors... it was just the last thing I wanted to after burning up every enzyme in my body (i.e. open myself up to rejection). But I liked this house, it had a big ol' yard and the home was large enough to provide a some distance and protection from the highway.

I started waving with big swoops from my arm just in case the residents were watching as I biked up their driveway (when you appear homeless it's also best you appear harmless). I skooched off my bike and skipped to the back door. The screen door shook as I pounded on its hinges. I heard the interior door to the home open to the sitting porch. Even though I couldn't see who I was speaking to I proclaimed, "Hi!". I didn't hear a response so I quickly spewed out the details as to why three randos were standing at on the lawn, "...all we really need is a place to plop shop and set up camp for the night..." *cue crickets* There was a glare from the sun setting and I couldn't see through the screen, and I was definitely frustrated because they weren't responding! So I said, "I'm sorry I can't see you, I have no idea who I'm talking to" (ha... either did she).

"Oh, you can open the screen", Paula said sweetly and as I stepped on to the porch I quickly realized I was in the midst of a quiet, heavy-set women just beaming with the traits of a good Samaritan. She offered up any spot we'd like in her back yard, and when I asked about a bathroom... this was the odd part- she said there was a coffee shop just a bit down the road ("mmmmm coffee") OR we could make use of their largest lawn ornament: an old Astro Van that had a toilet installed at the back of it like a port-o-potty. Heck, it sounded better than squatting!

Within about 20 minutes of setting up camp and changing out of the day's bicycle spandex the sun had tucked behind the trees and the sky had completely clouded over. The three of us were pow-wow around our mini camping stove waiting for the water to boil when a truck rolled up. I saw it was a man and shouted "Hello!" from about 30 feet away, he quietly responded "hello". I couldn't really make out the man's face enough to tell if he was older or younger than Paula, his face was so badly scarred so I asked, "you must be family?" He quietly replied, "yes". That didn't get me what I was looking for so I asked again, "husband or son?"

"Son" he answered, and I realized my lack of being able to distinguish this fact might have offended most, but oh well and oops! So I proceeded to explain why the heck there were three scouts in his backyard. He didn't respond with too much excitement and wished us a warm night as he retrieved supplies and tools out of the back of his pickup truck. As he took one step toward the house he quickly pivotted back to our direction almost as if he forgot something and asked, "Would any of you like an iced coffee?".

Without a moment to lose I sprang to my feet! God had answered my prayers! "SURE!". I instantly teleported across the 30 feet and as I reached him I introduced myself, "My name is Gena by the way, what's yours?" He told me his name was Conrad and I asked if I should follow him inside...