CALL ME SNAKE

Last month, our readers met "the Hitcher"--a well-dressed man, sporting a big smile and a necktie, trying to thumb a ride on a quiet residential street (Ellery Street, to be precise). Today, exactly one month later, I saw the hitcher again. Evidently he had some success in the intervening weeks and had made his way from mid-Cambridge over to the MIT area (Sidney Street, to be precise). He was still sporting that same smile and necktie, but now I'm starting to wonder whether I was wrong about the "well-dressed" part. Maybe the guy is not as prosperous as I had originally thought, which makes sense because then he'd be hailing a cab, right?

Today, as was the case last month, he was hitching on a dubious street, one that ran no more than a mile in its entirety, and I couldn't imagine he'd have any luck. Who would pick up a guy like that on a street like that that essentially went nowhere? (Sorry to the people who live or work there; it does go somewhere. But, I think you'll agree, it does not exactly offer the most expeditious ticket to the open road.) After watching him for a minute, I ducked into the bank and then the Star Market. Fifteen minutes later, when I came back to the corner to retrieve my bike, there was no sign of him. I wonder where we'll see the next appearance of our favorite new character, The Hitcher, who is perhaps coming soon to your very own street.