Tonight, as I was leaving the Teahouse Kuan Yin with Dani, a couple on skateboards asked me for directions. They were maybe 8 blocks from where they were going, and when I told them as much, the young woman (who was maybe 20) asked me simply, “Are you going that way? Could you give us a ride? We’re late for a bus.”

I was; so I did.

They noticed my DanceSafe sweatshirt, and it turned out one of them works with the Northwest Late Night Coalition and they were going to a party in South Seattle. The boy pulled out a zeroxed flyer. It looked like a really cool downtempo party — in fact, an old friend of mine was spinning. I decided that instead of dropping them off 7 blocks down the road so that they could catch a bus downtown to transfer onto a second bus to South Seattle, I would just drive them downtown. It was only about a mile out of my way.

We chatted comfortably the whole way…she was from the Bay Area, he was from Florida, studying massage here in Seattle. They were both so sweet and nice, and reminded me of when I used to just walk up to people on the street and start conversations. In fact, I met my core group of friends from San Francisco when I walked up to them on the street in 1996 and asked them for a ride to a party that night. I had no shame in saying, “Hi, I’m Ariel. I’m visiting from Seattle. I want to go to this party that we’re in line for, but I don’t have a car. Could I maybe get a ride with you?”

Shameless! But it worked. I got a ride in more than one sense of the word: I ended up dating one of them for a few months. The rest stayed my friends for years.

Anyway, these two sweet kids tried to convince me that I should go to the party with them. It was certainly tempting…the low-budget flyer promised, “cunnilingus secrets of the jellyfish revealed!”

“Finally!” I laughed, but I declined to go to the party. I had been up since early, and had been drinking mellow tea with Dani and was tired. So I dropped them off downtown, right by their bus stop. They were super appreciative. Then I realized that I’d put my purse in the back seat with one of them.

…..!

Of course it was still there. These are ravers, remember? We take care of our own.