The Stranger at the Rest Stop

In 2019, a young National Guard sergeant named Marcus Rivera drove through the night after spending three grueling days helping evacuate families during Hurricane Dorian in the Carolinas. He was running on fumes — physically, emotionally, spiritually. He pulled into a rest stop outside Fayetteville, hands still shaking on the wheel. An older man he had never met walked up to his truck carrying a paper bag.…