Meeting with the Mentor

So, I was on my way to Canada, only about a mile from the border, when I decided I'd stop some place and lie low for a couple days because I was scared and tired and I just needed a rest. I searched around and stopped at this place called the Tip Top Lodge which is just a small run down cluster of little yellow cabins. When I got to the main building, this scrawny old man opened the door and allowed me a room. His name is Elroy Berdahl and it has been six days that I've been here. In these six days I've spent the majority of my time in Elroy's presence whether it be hiking in the woods, playing scrabble, eating meals together or helping him around the business. This man has taken me in without even a question of why I'm here. He has such strong will power. There were times when he looked like he was going to ask but then he just shook his head and kept going. I think he understands that it is not a matter worth talking about because it won't make a difference. "The problem had gone beyond discussion. During the long summer [I've] been over and over the various arguments, all the pros and cons.... My conscience [tells] me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward the war." (51)
Today, I asked about my tab and how much it was going to be and he calculated that it was around  $260, and asked if that was too much. I told him no but I had better be leaving the following day because I only came with $312 dollars in my pocket. Later though, he said that he had to consider all the work I'd done around the Lodge and that really, he owed me $200. But he left it taped to my door in an envelope labeled "Emergency Fund". I'm pretty sure he knows, without even a word about it from me. This guy's good.