Lending a Helping Can

Sensitive Content Warning: Mild Language

It was near pitch black and almost deafeningly silent in a desert area at nine o’clock at night, with the only real source of light being the blanket of stars and the moon overhead. The only sources of sound? The light blowing of wind and the hum of an engine in a certain man’s car, a midnight blue Honda Accord, to be precise.

This man’s name was Daniel, a 27-year-old with a short beard, brown eyes, and a crew-cut. He was dressed in a grey shirt and black jeans. He was quite the level-headed man for the most part, but funny when he wanted to be. Many of his friends and family could confirm this if you were to ask them.

Speaking of family, Daniel was driving back home from seeing some extended family from out of state, as he was able to get a couple of days off from work. The visit was great fun for Daniel as he didn’t get to see his extended family all that often. They did all sorts of things, from kicking back and relaxing at his uncle Morgan's place, to going out to restaurants or bars to hang out.

As Daniel drove, he chuckled as he remembered that during his stay, his uncle opened up a can of soda from the fridge, not knowing it had been either shaken or dropped less than 45 minutes after he took it out, and it blew up in his face when he cracked the tab. The scream his uncle gave when the soda blasted him was priceless.

Aside from this memory, Daniel didn’t have much to entertain him on the drive back home except for a playlist of Lo-Fi music he created on his phone for when he’d do housework. Daniel was a man with raging ADHD, but music was something that effectively kept him locked in on a task when he needed it most.

Little did Daniel know he was in a bit of an unfortunate situation. He didn’t know he was in an area that, for some reason, had a distance between two gas stations abnormally far away from each other, and that most people needed to be prepared, usually by filling all the way up at the previous gas station. Nobody in Daniel’s extended family knew anything about this either, so it wasn’t like he could have asked any of them about what to expect.

Naturally, stopping earlier on wasn’t what Daniel did, because he was very used to the route he would normally take. It was a route that usually didn’t require a gas stop for planning ahead’s sake, so it was a natural tendency for him not to feel as though he needed it..

However, this tendency quickly turned on Daniel as his car engine started to slow down, prompting him to take a glance at his gas meter. What he saw was the last thing he wanted to see when he still had a couple of hours more until he got home, a near-empty gas meter.

“Aw, man. Right now?” He complained to himself.

It wasn’t long before the engine came to a full stop, causing Daniel to panic.

Daniel’s car lights flicked out like they were connected to a faulty set of circuits, and by this point, all Daniel could feel was annoyance, frustration, and a little bit of fear, given where he was. The desert felt that much scarier due to what had just happened. Add that to being in an area surrounded by rocky mountains with wild animals possibly living directly in the area, as well as it being as deathly quiet as the earlier areas of the desert. This entire set of factors created the perfect setup for a feeling of overwhelming unease.

“Note to self: Stop and fill my gas tank when taking this route in the future.” Daniel sighed.

Daniel wanted to rest his head on the steering wheel to try to think, but startled himself when he accidentally pressed the horn with his forehead.

HONK!

“GAH!!!” he screamed as he jumped at the sound of the horn.

“Well, there goes thinking about my situation INSIDE my car,” Daniel thought.

Now that he thought about it however, it really was dark outside, it felt threatening to Daniel on a somewhat scary level.

Trying to shake the unease, he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of his car with his cellphone, turning it on. He didn’t have any cell service, which eliminated any chance he had of getting hold of relatives during this situation, and for some reason, this also went for emergency services.

‘Damn it all!’ He growled.

“The company my phone comes from really needs to improve its designs.”

Daniel turned around and rested his head on the roof of his car so he could try to think. Thankfully, not setting off a loud sound this time. He thought that this might have been the first time he would need to ever sleep in his car, giving a long, frustrated sigh at the possibility.

“This sucks…” Daniel hissed.

“What do I do now?”

Daniel perked up, however, when another pair of headlights came into focus on Daniel’s car about five minutes later, causing Daniel to turn around and see a grey Toyota Camry slowly come to a stop. Out of the car stepped a 26-year-old man around Daniel’s height with short, untidy black hair, green eyes, and dressed in a black hoodie with blue jeans.

“Excuse me, my name’s Mark. Are you alright?” The man asked as he made his way towards Daniel.

“I wish,” Daniel said.

“I ran out of gas while driving through this area. I’m on my way back home from visiting family, and needless to say I’m not used to this situation. The route I normally take doesn’t need a ‘planning ahead’ stop.”

“Mmhmm,” Mark said.

“You have to be more vigilant on this route than others about gas. The distance between gas stations is abnormally big along this route for some reason.” He added.

“Good to know. Thank you.” Daniel said.

Just then, Mark perked up as if he remembered something, walking around to the opposite end of his car. Daniel looked on as he saw Mark appear to have removed something from the side of his car. It was a Jerry can.

“Here, put this in your car. This contains about half of a tank of gas,” Mark held the Jerry can out to Daniel, “It should get you through to the next gas station, so you can fill the rest of the way up.”

Daniel looked at the Jerry can with wide eyes, and looked back up at Mark.

A bit of confusion crossed Daniel, though, both for the limited gas in the can and the situation as a whole. Daniel was a bit hesitant at first given the way people can be, sometimes, but Daniel didn’t see a single sign of malicious intent in Mark.

“You only have one can though, right? What about you?” He asked.

Mark smiled.

“I’ll be fine. My tank is closer to full than anything, so go ahead and use the rest. That, and I’ve been stranded before, so I know how it feels.”

“Thank you!” Daniel exclaimed with a smile, pure gratitude in his tone.

Daniel took the can from Mark and opened the door to his car’s fuel tank, pouring the gasoline in.

As Daniel’s gas tank began to fill, he and Mark made some conversation.

“My name is Daniel, by the way,”

“Nice to meet you,” Mark responded.

Mark thought back to something Daniel said earlier.

“So if I may, how was your trip up to your extended family?” Mark asked.

Daniel smiled as he looked back on his trip.

“It was a blast! We did all sorts of things.” Daniel replied.

“One of the funniest parts was when my uncle opened a soda and he totally got blasted in the face. It was because the carbonation hadn’t settled yet.” Daniel laughed as he recalled the mishap.

“Oh, man! That’s hilarious,” Mark laughed. “My cousin had that happen recently, too. Twice in the same day, actually.”

“Twice in the same day!? What are the odds?” Daniel laughed harder.

A small break in the conversation prompted Daniel to check the gas can by giving it a shake. It was empty. He took the can out and closed his gas tank door, handing the can back to Mark. Mark then took the can and put it back on its mount, walking back towards Daniel afterwards.

“Thank you again, Mark. Very much!”

“It’s nothing at all, Daniel!” Mark responded.

Something dawned on Daniel.

“Hey, Mark. You seem like a cool guy. Want to exchange phone numbers?” Daniel asked.

“Sure, sounds good,” Mark nodded.

The pair then proceeded to exchange numbers, exchanging a few more fond memories of their relatives and even other friends. This whole encounter with Mark lifted Daniel’s spirits on his entire situation with being in the desert.

“I should really be getting going now.” Daniel said, “Work starts back up for me tomorrow. I may not start until the afternoon, but still.”

Mark nods.

“Yeah, I should be as well. It was great meeting you though. Let’s keep in touch.” Mark said.

“Yeah, let’s.” Daniel replied.

With that, not only was Daniel's gas problem solved by who started as a complete stranger, named Mark, but that stranger became Daniel’s friend as well. Both men started up their vehicles again, and headed to their respective destinations, spirits higher than before. On Daniel’s end, he just knew he needed to watch out for the day where he’d get his chance to be there for Mark in return.