One recent day, I was pumping gas in a nearby city when a big, shiny red pickup with New Hampshire plates pulled up behind my car. The driver, a man older than middle age, called out to me after he left his truck. “Hey, if I make you climax, would you pay to fill up my truck?” What? I thought of several things I could say, but given what’s happening these days, I chose instead to not respond. I ignored him.

Yes, that was one strange encounter.

Over the years I have had others. They range from humorous to uncomfortable. Surely, you have had your own.

And then there are the ones I create for my books.

First the humorous. I recall being at the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge when a man approached me in a friendly way. He called me by a name that wasn’t mine. He explained we had known each other well in a previous life. Sorry, I don’t remember.

Then there was the time a twenty-something clerk at a liquor store asked if I was famous after he read the name on my check. I was a journalist for a local newspaper but didn’t think I was a household name. He explained, “Yeah, you work with chimpanzees in the jungle.” He thought I was Jane Goodall. I told him politely that wasn’t me.

Now for the uncomfortable. Of course, hitchhiking, which I did when I was young and didn’t own a car, generated a few strange encounters. I recall hitching to a college friend’s house in a rural area when this old man stopped to give me a ride. I got nervous as he left the main drag for an unfamiliar road. He kept talking about how unsafe it was for a woman to be hitchhiking alone. Uh, yes, buddy you are making your point. I demanded he take me back to the main road and let me out of his car, which he did. 

I will spare you what one driver was doing as I sat in the front seat of his car while hitchhiking in France. My then-boyfriend was in the back seat. We had been waiting over 24 hours on the side of a road for someone to give us a ride. Hence, I put up with the situation.

Certainly, I have heard from other people about their experiences getting picked up by strangers. By the way, I also had many good ones when people drove longer and even out of their way to help me reach my destination.

I had odd and sometimes uncomfortable encounters when I was a journalist. As a reporter covering small towns, including the one where I lived, I could find myself in a social situation or say shopping at the general store with someone who had appeared in one of my news story. And while I tried to write balanced stories, sometimes I had to report on sticky situations.

In New Mexico, I worked as editor-in-chief for The Taos News, where I was expected to write hard-hitting editorials criticizing the way local officials conducted the public’s business. There were occasions when a person I criticized would be at a public event I attended or even hosted. In those cases, I maintained a friendly but professional manner expected of my position. Secretly, I enjoyed it.

Then there were the times those officials were running for re-election. The Taos News did endorsements, so I would have the candidates come in for an interview with a reporter and myself before making our decision. Let’s say there were some rather awkward conversations.

Here’s one about the county official in law enforcement who was unhappy with an editorial I wrote. He told me at the end of a meeting, “I can forgive, but I can never forget.”

Now for the imagined. Naturally, I give Isabel Long, the protagonist of my mystery series, lots of strange encounters, which would seem appropriate for a private investigator. They typically happen when she is interviewing so-called persons of interest and even outright suspects. They can even be threatening. I like throwing danger at Isabel.

In Finding the Source, Isabel and her mother are approached by a homeless man who announces that his mother was murdered when he was a kid — he actually found her body — and the case was never solved. Yes, she decides to pursue it.

Isabel’s experience was inspired by my own encounter on the day of my mother’s funeral. Hank and I were taking a walk beforehand when a stranger rushed toward me and announced, “My grandmother was murdered 46 years ago, and her case was never solved.” I asked the man for details and later checked online.

Hank, a bit surprised, asked me, “How do you attract people like that?” In this case, I was lucky.