Savior

The Hitchhiker

Sharp rocks and grit dug into the soles of Feliciano's bare feet as he trudged along the side of the road. He'd long since stopped counting how many miles he'd walked since he left. Where he was going, he didn't know, but walking gave him a sense of purpose. At the very least, it separated him from the other homeless men that wasted away under bridges.

Ideally he'd be in a car at this time of day, but vehicles scarcely passed this part of the road and the few that did had ignored his upturned thumb.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, he shaded his eyes against the blazing sun. Noon was the absolute worst, he'd said it before and would say it again.

He stopped and put his hands on his knees to rest. This particular stretch of road was fairly nice, as roads go. Trees went off of either side and the only sound was that of numerous birds. And...was that..?

A car engine. Undoubtedly. After almost a year of searching continuously for that sound, Feliciano's ears were fine-tuned. He straightened up immediately and stuck his thumb up. The car came into sight and he crossed his fingers behind his back and thrust his hand even higher into the air. The car slowed, then pulled over five feet from where he stood. Feliciano silently thanked whatever was responsible for this.

By some miracle, his sore feet managed to carry him to the passengers' side door. He opened it and got in before glancing at the driver.

It was a tall, muscular Aryan man, which was not all that uncommon. They were in Germany, after all.

"Thanks so much," Feliciano said, buckling himself in. He noticed the other man look him up and down, probably noting his blistered, shoe-less feet as well as the state as his clothing and hair. Come to think of it, he probably didn't smell too good either.

"Yeah," was the response.

Not one to tolerate silence and gloom, Feliciano flashed a bright smile before asking, "What's your name?"

"Ludwig."

"Ah, so you're from here?" As if it wasn't obvious by his accent and looks. But sometimes you had to ignore the obvious to make small talk, so Feliciano had learned.

"Yeah."

"That's cool. I'm from Italy."

"Mm."

What was with this guy? Didn't he ever smile?

After a few minutes, Ludwig spoke. "So where're you headed?"

"Oh, as far south as you can take me." Feliciano said with a vague wave of the hand.

"Anyplace in particular?" The Italian couldn't help but notice how stiffly he spoke.

"Ah, just as far south."

Ludwig glanced over at him with a concerned look. "No offense, but you don't look like you've got anyplace to return to. Do you?"

"Not exactly," Feliciano admitted reluctantly. "I'm just kind of going south for the hell of it."

"Would you want to stay at my place?" Ludwig blurted.

"No, I couldn't possibly ask that of you."

"It's no trouble, really. I've been looking for somebody to watch my kids. If you'd do that during the daytime you could stay in my guest room."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Feliciano smiled widely, a genuine one. Normally these were contagious, but Ludwig remained stoic as ever.

"So, um, can I ask you some questions since you're gonna be in charge of my kids?" Ludwig asked a few minutes later.

"Of course! Shoot!"

"Age?"

"I'm twenty-six! You?"

Ludwig raised one eyebrow before answering, "Twenty-three. What do you think about kids and have you ever worked with them before?"

"Oh, I love kids. When I was a teenager I'd watch them all the time, and they loved me."

"Good. I'll ask to see some sort of I.D. when we get there. And will you be able to start tomorrow?"

"I have an outdated Italian license, is that okay? And yeah, what time?"

"That'll do. And I get up at five a.m. sharp, so you should be up at six if my alarm doesn't wake you. That's when I leave for work, and the kids'll be up by then too."

"Okay!"

"I have a schedule for the kids, I'll hang it on the fridge."

"Sounds good." Why was this man so uptight? "May I ask how old they are?"

"One and three. So how much do you think is fair pay, then?"

"Oh, no."

"Hm?"

"You are not allowed to pay me. You're letting me stay in your house, that's more than enough."

"Are you certain?"

"Positive."

"Okay. We'll be there in twenty."

"Okay!" Feliciano flashed his signature grin once again.

The twenty minutes passed in near silence. Occasionally Feliciano would attempt to have a conversation, but it was always cut off quickly by Ludwig's clipped one-word answers.

At long last, they pulled up to the house. Feliciano's first thought was clean. Clean was not a strong enough word to define it; the small structure was absolutely immaculate, right down to every neatly trimmed blade of grass.

Stepping out of the car, the Italian shaded his eyes and looked up at the house. The actual building, too, was one of the cleanest he'd ever seen. The white walls were free of dirt and the windows flashed and reflected the blazing summer sun.

Feliciano turned to Ludwig, who was already halfway up the walk.

"So you're sure I can stay here, right? This is an awfully nice thing of you to do."

"Of course I'm sure, or I wouldn't have offered in the first place. Now are you coming?"

"Yeah!" Feliciano jogged up the walk to where Ludwig was opening the door.

When it was opened, Feliciano was greeted by the strong scent of pine-sol, as well as a heavenly blast of air conditioning. He waited until the other man was inside before setting a tentative foot into the doorway and stepping in.

"And you're sure? Like, absolutely, 100% positive?" Feliciano asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," Ludwig huffed. "Now I'll show you the guest room where you'll be staying and then we can get you some new clothes and...shoes."