We stopped at a highway rest stop at 2 AM somewhere in the middle of a long drive. My wife was asleep in the passenger seat. I needed coffee and the facilities.
There was a man in the parking lot when I pulled in. Standing between two cars, not doing anything, not on his phone. He waved when I pulled in — a cheerful, normal wave, the wave of someone who is glad to see you.
I got out. He came over immediately. Very friendly. Offered to help carry anything, asked if we needed directions, said he was heading the same direction and did we want to caravan. He smiled the whole time. He was warm and personable and helpful in the specific way of someone who is being very intentionally warm and personable and helpful.
I said thanks, we were fine, just stopping briefly.
He said okay, no problem, drove safe. He went back to standing between the two cars.
Inside, getting coffee, I thought about him. The wrongness I'd felt — I do this thing when I'm driving tired where I process things slightly delayed, notice something off and can't place it until later. I stood at the coffee machine and placed it.
He'd been standing in the parking lot at 2 AM. No car near him — the two cars he'd been between had people in them, families sleeping, and he wasn't with either of them. Standing alone in a dark parking lot at 2 AM, waiting.
I went back to my car, not through the parking lot. Through the building, out the far side, around. I didn't want to walk back past him.
When I pulled out of the rest stop, I could see him in my rearview. Still standing between the two cars. Still smiling.
He was knocking on the window of one of the cars.
I drove. I didn't stop again until I needed gas, in daylight, at a station on a busy road.
I've thought since about what he was. What he wanted. Why he was there at 2 AM being warm and helpful to lone travelers.
I don't have an answer. I have a strong feeling about what he would have done if I'd agreed to caravan with him.
I'm glad my wife was asleep. I'm glad she didn't smile at him through the window.
I think he was looking for someone to smile back.