WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.590 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.590 --> 00:00:07.320 align:middle line:84%
There are lots of hitchhikers
on 101 in Northern California.

00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:10.890 align:middle line:84%
And I never thought much
about hitchhikers before.

00:00:10.890 --> 00:00:13.350 align:middle line:84%
But I saw them
constantly, day after day.

00:00:13.350 --> 00:00:15.297 align:middle line:90%
This is called "Hitchhiker."

00:00:15.297 --> 00:00:18.430 align:middle line:90%


00:00:18.430 --> 00:00:21.610 align:middle line:90%
I woke up sad this morning.

00:00:21.610 --> 00:00:26.920 align:middle line:84%
I picked up a woman in a
dream about hitchhiking.

00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:32.110 align:middle line:84%
She unzipped her yellow
slicker, then showed me a gun,

00:00:32.110 --> 00:00:37.060 align:middle line:84%
asking if I'd like to
die alone on the beach

00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:41.800 align:middle line:84%
or out in a field,
near cows and egrets.

00:00:41.800 --> 00:00:44.500 align:middle line:90%
She took me to the field.

00:00:44.500 --> 00:00:48.910 align:middle line:84%
When the first egret
lifted his heavy wings

00:00:48.910 --> 00:00:53.230 align:middle line:84%
at the sound of our
steps across salty grass,

00:00:53.230 --> 00:00:58.450 align:middle line:84%
she said, now catch
a ride for your soul.

00:00:58.450 --> 00:01:01.960 align:middle line:84%
Then I woke up, my thumb
bent under the pillow,

00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:05.170 align:middle line:84%
as if I'd extended
it toward heaven.

00:01:05.170 --> 00:01:07.570 align:middle line:84%
I thought the woman
was my sister,

00:01:07.570 --> 00:01:11.590 align:middle line:84%
for her mouth reminded
me of a mouth shaped

00:01:11.590 --> 00:01:14.020 align:middle line:90%
to blow out candles.

00:01:14.020 --> 00:01:17.470 align:middle line:84%
I've forgotten my
sister's birthday.

00:01:17.470 --> 00:01:22.360 align:middle line:84%
Or was that my mouth,
transposed onto a face I

00:01:22.360 --> 00:01:27.310 align:middle line:84%
knew too well to recognize,
concentrating in the mirror

00:01:27.310 --> 00:01:34.100 align:middle line:84%
on detail as I did on the shade
below my eyes, my uneven nose

00:01:34.100 --> 00:01:37.150 align:middle line:90%
bone, my teeth?

00:01:37.150 --> 00:01:41.680 align:middle line:84%
When I drove to work, I
neared a woman with her thumb

00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:43.840 align:middle line:90%
pointed north.

00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:47.860 align:middle line:84%
I could have stopped for
her, but I was afraid.

00:01:47.860 --> 00:01:52.060 align:middle line:84%
My fingers ached as
I clutched the wheel.

00:01:52.060 --> 00:01:55.990 align:middle line:84%
I knew her veins were
turning dark as my own,

00:01:55.990 --> 00:01:59.350 align:middle line:84%
struggling out of
the skin for air,

00:01:59.350 --> 00:02:02.140 align:middle line:84%
that she slept with
her hands pressing down

00:02:02.140 --> 00:02:04.780 align:middle line:90%
her heart like me.

00:02:04.780 --> 00:02:09.669 align:middle line:84%
Yet blood might break from
the red wires in her eyeballs,

00:02:09.669 --> 00:02:13.030 align:middle line:84%
blinding her until
she viewed my legs

00:02:13.030 --> 00:02:16.210 align:middle line:90%
and breasts as commonplace.

00:02:16.210 --> 00:02:19.990 align:middle line:84%
She'd shoot me, then
touch my cold cheek,

00:02:19.990 --> 00:02:26.260 align:middle line:84%
not connecting it to the hollow
formed by her own hard jaw.

00:02:26.260 --> 00:02:30.550 align:middle line:84%
She turned into a speck
within my rearview mirror.

00:02:30.550 --> 00:02:33.280 align:middle line:84%
Maybe I confused
her with egrets,

00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:36.490 align:middle line:84%
maybe with the
harsh light thrown

00:02:36.490 --> 00:02:40.650 align:middle line:90%
into my clear, unfriendly eyes.

00:02:40.650 --> 00:02:43.000 align:middle line:90%