Just before we were about to turn onto the motorway near Izola, we saw an elderly man with his thumb raised. Leonard suddenly stopped the car at a concrete block behind the line.
"It's probably wet!" he commented. Not paying attention to what was going on behind his back, Leonard pressed the horn. The man quickened his pace to the car.
"Where are you going?" asked Leonard.
"I would like to go to Razdrteg, in fact to Ajdovščina."
"Then ... I'm going to Nova Gorica, but via Trieste," Leonard replied. He noticed the disappointed look on the man's face and after a few seconds of thought, he changed his mind.
The man sighed loudly and sat in the back seat.
"Have you waited long for transport? You must be wet!" asked Leonard.
"I was thumbs up for half an hour. Well, yeah, I'm a bit wet, has no big deal!"
When we dropped off the hitchhiker in Ajdovščina, I asked Leonard if he often picks up hitchhikers. I don't like to stop myself. In fact, I am a bit afraid of taking strangers in the car.
"When I see hitchhikers, I always think of my mother," he replied. "She is tied to public transport and is often stopped when she is seen walking home from the bus station, which is quite far from her home."
I have to admit that I was touched by Leonardo's gesture, because he showed a side of himself that I didn't know before. The man in the rain took pity on him and he made him veer off the path, which meant an extra 20 kilometres for Leonardo.
The man's thanks kept us warm for a long time on the way home.
Darinka Kozinc, 26. 3. 2025
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