An Innocent Bystander

April, 1998

The girl had nothing on her feet. It was the first thing I noticed about her. That and the oval splotches of mud running up one side of her pale leg and onto her short white shorts.The mud was actually what made me stop. I don't usually pick up hitchhikers, no matter who they are or how unthreatening they look. But the sight of those mud spots was ominous. This girl looked like she was in trouble. As if she'd been running away from something, barefoot, through the mud.This was a Monday, early Oc...