This was fun. At first, my mind kept trying to make this Lois but I knew that there would be no brother. Fortunately, the appearance of Jonathan cleared that up pretty quickly.
As far as getting into a vehicle with a stranger, I tend to think this is a combination of the times and the setting. I still remember growing up in a *very* small town in the rural southern US where when we would go over to visit, we would just walk into the people's house and yell "Hello" if the front room was empty. I never saw that anywhere else but I did live it. So, I didn't find it particularly odd that Martha got into the truck with what seemed to be a nice stranger.
Bob
