It was a hot summer afternoon. I was driving from central California to Los Angeles when suddenly my car decides to break down in the middle of nowhere. I tried everything possible to get my car started, but nothing was working. Luckily I had my cell phone and called for a tow truck. I had gotten really sweaty and grimy from spending time under the hood of my car in the heat. An hour later, he came. The embroidered name on his blue button-up shirt read Robert. He had a white T-shirt on underneath his uniform. He wore sunglasses and had thick black medium-length hair, a stubble beard, and hairy forearms. He also had the coolest smile. Robert hitched my car up, pulled out insurance paperwork, then got into his truck. He waved at me to come on in. He said, “Man, not the best day to get stranded.” I said, “Yeah, I’m sweating like crazy.” He gave me a once over, smiled again, then reached over and tugged on my T-shirt sleeve. I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that, but I lifted my arm up over my head to wipe sweat off my forehead when I noticed his eyes dart toward the underside of my sleeve. I looked at my pit and noticed that sweat had soaked through my shirt. I looked at him and he smiled again. We were driving down the freeway by now. I looked at the front panel of his truck and clearly saw an A/C button, but the light wasn’t on. I was about to say something when he said, “Shit, it’s hot, man!” We were going 60 on the freeway when he took his hands off the wheel and unbuttoned his shirt. I rolled down my window a bit more in response to his comment, and when I looked back at him, all he had on was the white T-shirt. “Ah, that’s better,” he said. The road noise was getting too loud, so I rolled my window up then asked, “Say, you got A/C?” He said, “Sorry, man. It’s broken,” then smiled again. His blue shirt was on the seat between us. Suddenly I smelled something pungent. I thought it was the shirt on the seat beside me. I looked towards Robert and noticed that he had his right arm over the back of the seat, left hand at the wheel, wind blowing through his hair. His right hand was an inch away from my left shoulder. It was his underarm I was smelling. I could see the outline of his nipple through his T-shirt. I glanced over to his armpit and saw thick, black tufts of swirly hair jutting out from under his sleeve. The hairs were shiny, dark, and wet. He noticed my looking at him then smiled again. Droplets of sweat dripped down my forehead again, so I raised my left arm again to wipe it off. Since his hand was so close to my shoulder, it was easy for him to touch me. I couldn’t believe what he did but he slid two of his fingers under my sleeve for a second, said, “Sorry about the heat,” then pulled his arm back. I said, “Yeah, I’m getting really thirsty.” He pointed to a sign on the road that read “Rest stop, 1 mile”. After he pointed to the sign, he took his two fingers and ran them under his nose then inhaled deeply. We took the freeway exit to the rest stop. He stepped out of the truck, then said, “Coke?” I said, “That’d be great!” All I smelled was his smelly underarms as he slammed the door. Robert came back pretty fast with two cans of Coke in hand. He jumped back in the truck, handed me my Coke. Again I smelled his b.o. I noticed he had stuffed a wad of toilet paper in his right pocket. We were back on the road again. After we had finished our Cokes, he took the toilet paper from his pant pocket and placed it on the seat between us. He grabbed it, then raised his left arm up then started to wipe his armpit with it. He said, “Sorry, man. But I smell pretty bad, don’t I?” I said, “No, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” He said no deodorant could ever get rid of his smell. Then I couldn’t believe he said, “Could you wipe the other side? I need to keep at least one hand on the wheel.” He lifted up his right arm. I grabbed the wet and stinky wad of toilet paper, shoved it under his white T-shirt sleeve, and wiped the long, black tufts of sweaty hair under his rank underarm. Hairs clung on to the toilet paper as I wiped. He gave out a silent moan then said, “Thanks, man.” He smiled again.
