Mary was in a rut. She had become tired of the same old things and was looking for some spice in her life. She needed something exciting to do.
She was always told not to pick up strangers but she just would do it anyway just for the excitement. She usually took a trip from Portland , Oregon to San Diego , California twice a month. These trips were getting boring and lonely, so on these trips she would pick up strangers because she did not like riding alone.
One day on one of her trips she picked up a stranger walking down the highway. The guy was clean cut and had on a suit. He said that he had been out of work and was headed to California to try and find a job. His suit case and the clothes on his back was all he had. She told him to get in and she would take him to San Diego.
She felt kind of strange picking him up for some reason. She did not know why because she had done this over 100 times and it always turned out OK. But it was something about this guy that gave her the creeps.
He was very polite and did not seem to have any problems. They made small talk and he made her laugh hysterically at some of his jokes. He was a lot of fun but she still felt funny. He said he had not seen his family in five years and lost contact with anyone who knew who he was. He said that he was going to find work and after he got himself together he was going to find his wife and kids and make amends.
She continued to drive and told her story about how she had her own business and to get away from it all she would take trips down to San Diego where she had a house on the ocean. She just needed to get away as she wanted, or rather, needed something to fill that void in her life.
She said that she needed some excitement as she was tired of the same old stuff and these trips were getting boring and she needed something to spice the trips up. Just then he asked if they could pull over so he could relieve himself. She did not want to do it because the road was desolate and it was in the dead of night.
She decided to pull over to let him out. As he walked over to the tree Mary found it strange that he took his bag with him. Mary had enough. As her adrenaline started flowing, Mary grabbed a knife. She came up behind him and went to slashing. He fell down and Mary got in the car and drove off.
When the police arrived the next morning, they saw what was considered the worst murder in the Oregon area ever. The bag the man had was filled with three rolls of toilet paper and a picture of his wife and kids.
The police said to the other officer of the grisly seen, “well that is why you should not hitchhike; you never know who you are getting in the car with. That is irony for you.”
Mary had got her fix and to her it felt good. Mary started making the trip a lot more often picking up victim after victim. She started other routes so she could have more access as the word got out about the string of killings in Oregon. So, next time you have your thumb out and a car pulls over to let you in, be careful as it may be your last car ride.