hippie steve

wait. did i tell you guys that i ran out of gas, again? so i'm on the 101 north, just heading out of the city, right before the santa monica blvd. exit. i freaking feel meg run out of gas, and i'm all, oh crap. i pull over and just pray that she'll coast far enough (to ventura is what i was really hoping, but i would have settled for an ARCO.) anyway, she doesn't. i get to the offramp, actually halfway up it. why i didn't run out of gas on a downward sloping offramp, i can't tell you. oh, but luck awaited me. so i let the brake off and run out of meg hoping to push her up the hill and meggie tried to run over me! i flew back in and pulled the break, just barely saving our lives. then the two nicest mexicans ever jump out of a van and start pushing. (i yell, gracias! gracias! estan the best!, which of course means, you're the best, and if i'd had one more second, i would have remembered how to say the best (el mejor or los mejores) but hey, meg was flying down a hill.) then hippie steve (this is where it gets really interesting) jumps off of the corner of santa monica and the 101, where he's been standing holding a sign that no one reads. so the homeless guy and two mexicans push meg to safety. in this case, "safety" was a greek family market that i SWEAR was mob affiliated. the mexicans take off, and i'm standing with hippie steve. who says, "i'm hippie steve. i live, well, over there. (pointing to his corner.) he's dirty. (homeless people sometimes are.) he points to a grocery cart. he has cuttoff everything. and a bandana holding back curly hair that would be blond if it weren't so dirty. "and this is moon." this little black dog. "you ran out of gas. don't do that. you tell your boyfriend to keep gas in your car." (stine laughs, nervously.) "i know the guy at the gas station, give me your gas can. me and moon will be back in 5 minutes. wait here." so he takes off. the first thing i encounter is a little mexican man who asks me, "do you habe vun dollah? please?" i give him a dollar and say, "prometeme que usara este para comer, no para tomar." he says, "hablas espanol, senorita?" i say yes. in english. for good measure. next, the huge greek man who runs the market in front of which i'm parked comes out and says, (greek accent.) "can i gitchoo zometing to drenk? vhat happened here, ennyway?" so i explain my saga, including "the homeless man is getting me gas", and refuse a drink. meanwhile, hippie steve's been gone a while. he returns after a few more minutes, explaining something crazy regarding moon's attempt to lay down in the shade. whatever. he puts gas in my tank, and i hand him a 20 and thank him. "you just gave me a 20." he said, astonished. "you just saved my life," i tell him. "god bless you, steve." he says, "god blesses me every day." with that, i got into meg and drove to van nuys, (not before filling up my gas tank), and all i have of my adventure are memories and a bruise from where meg tried to run me over.