Lucia Frangione hadnt expected to spend Christmas Eve standing on her front porch, dressed in her holiday best, carrying a suitcase full of food and bawling her eyes out, but, when her Kijiji-sourced rideshare stood her up, she found herself doing just that.
Desperately, the Vancouver playwright and actress turned to Twitter, Facebook and Craigslist, appealing to anyone who could get her to Kamloops in time for dinner.
Just when I started to think about hitchhiking, I get a phone call, said Frangione, who shared her story about depending on the kindness of strangers at The Flame: Holiday Season Edition last month at The Cultch.
The caller was a flooring installer named Dave. He saw Frangiones Craigslist posting and told her he would happily drop her off in Kamloops on his way to Saskatchewan. But first, she would have to help him tie up one very large loose end.
If you help me pack up my apartment then we can get on the road faster, he said.
Feeling she had no choice, Frangione swapped her fashionable gloves for the rubber variety and watched Dave pull up in a construction van trailing a U-Haul. Inside the cab were about 20 empty energy drink cans.
Thats when I notice Daves a bit jittery and his eyes are bloodshot.
As Dave explained that hedjust finished a huge flooring job by himself and hadnt slept in five days, his girlfriend called to say how excited she was hed be home for Christmas. But Frangione questioned whether or not that would happen after seeing the state of Daves apartment.
Theres clothes, theres furniture, theres food in the fridge, theres condiments, theres toiletries everything.
Dave handed her a couple of boxes and left. Dejected, she began the uncomfortably intimate task of packing a strangers personal belongings. Three hours in, her cousin called to offer her a ride to Kamloops.
I looked around me and thought I could escape right now, I could just take off, she said. And then I saw a little pink bobby sock underneath Daves bed and I thought, Thats the girlfriends little sock.
Frangione knew that if she left, Dave would never make it home for Christmas. So, reluctantly, she declined her cousins offer and got back to work. Five hours later, Dave returned to a cleared-out apartment. They loaded the U-Haul and got on the road, with Frangione behind the wheel.
During the drive, when Dave wasnt fast asleep, the two chatted. I realize, as he talks, this isnt some crazy dude. This is a really nice guy who was in a tough spot and I was so happy to help him out.
The two parted ways in Kamloops. Fourteen hours later, Frangione received a heartening text message. It said I made it. Merry Christmas, love Dave.
The Flame: Holiday Season Editionispresented with Metro Vancouver as part of itsCreate Memories, Not Garbagecampaign. It will be broadcast onShaw TV, Channel 4in December and will be available to view at MetroVancouver.org. Read WE Vancouver for more Christmas tales from this years storytellers.
