We were waiting at Dulles airport for the Metrobus. We had just dropped off a rental car and planned to take the bus to the first Metro stop and then take the Metro downtown. It was a multi-model transportation day.
A man in a suit with a suitcase walked up and asked us if this was the bus stop. We must have looked like we knew what we were doing. I joked that we hoped it was the stop, because that was what we were waiting for. And then we introduced ourselves.
He was Mr. Rahman from Senegal. He had woken before dawn in Dakkar where a friend had driven him to the airport. Then he had flown to New York City and caught another plane to Washington, DC. His final destination was Philadelphia, but getting there was going to take some doing, yet. He had to find his way to Union Station and from there he had to catch the Amtrak to Philadelphia.
We took out a map. We showed him how he needed to take this bus to the Metro station at the end of the route. And I showed him the Metro route from there to Union Station. And we gave him our Metro map so that he might find his way.
“We can get another map,” Trudy said.
He thanked us. And soon the bus arrived, much to our collective relief.
We got off the bus at a Metro stop before Mr. Rahman’s.
“Bon fin de voyage,” I said, tapping him on the shoulder as we left.
“Ah, merci,” he said.
He had many miles to go, but in comparison to how far he had come, he was almost home.