Learn to Swim

Saturday night was fantastic for me in the beginning. I drove a lot of my personal clients I love them all they all keep me safe , they are all safe in general. So many nice people. I even picked up four homeless people, I've seen all of them before. There was two guys one of them was ex military, he was originally from Newfoundland. He told me he has been homeless for seven years. He talked a lot. He said things like I'm an alcoholic, I've traveled across the country seventeen times. I believed him. I asked why he doesn't get a real job, get a house. He took offence to that, panhandling in -20 weather is work ya know, that's true. I told him I meant like get a real job and get a wife have some kids. He then told me that his wife was killed in a car accident eight years ago, she was careering his child, hence the life change. Good reason. He was thirty four.
There were two girls in the back seat with a guy, all their homeless gear was so bulky I could hardly see their faces. One of the girls was sixteen the other was seventeen, they to were chronic boozers, even though they weren't old enough to buy booze. The sixteen year old girl tripped me out, her parents lived in Edmonton, her dad was living in a trailer and mom had a basement suit somewhere. She did not want to live with them. I'm guessing they were heavily sedated people. This sixteen year old girl is someone that is visible in the downtown core of E- town, Remember that shit when you see homeless people. The twenty seven year old in the back only talked about how cool I was that I picked them up and let them smoke cigarettes in the car. I drove the four of them to an isolated place south of 23rd ave. It was -20 and the four were going to drink ten beers and half a bottle of wine in a tent in the middle of nowhere. That's is insane, I cut their fare in half cause they were cool and homeless. Sixteen years old, can you imagine, if not take a look outside.
That stuff is nothing compared to what happened to me and my last fare. Nothing I've ever experienced in my life is like what happened to me tonight. I picked a girl up around 118th ave and 124st. As soon as she told me the address I turned up Smells like teen spirit by Nirvana, I was rude to the girl I didn't even ask if she minded , I didn't care it's one of my favorite songs. When it ended I said I was sorry I just had to listen to it loud. She laughed and told me about her night . Bob Marley was on the radio Jammin, I was commenting on how I liked that song too when a fellow cab driver pulled up next to me, he looked distraught. As I was moving I opened the window, the other driver had his hand on his neck, he started yelling I've been stabbed, I've been stabbed. Then he took his hand off his neck and I saw the blood. Fuck for real, this was bad. He still had someone in the taxi, I guessed it was the stabber. I told my fare we have to follow him, she agreed. He ran red lights and he was moving at dangerous speeds I could not keep up with him without putting the girl in the back seat in danger. Fuck I lost him. While I was trying to keep up wit him I was trying to radio in to dispatch. O, this other taxi driver worked for the same company I do. He is actually the only other cab driver that ever acknowledged me as a taxi driver, he's my friend and I lost him, dispatch never answered me, that's bad, very bad for our safety. I had to phone 911 for the third time in two weeks . When was the last time you phoned 911? Its scary every time , who cares though 911 put me on hold, fuck the police. So my dispatch would not answer me 911 had me on hold and I had a fare in the back seat while I was yelling into the radio microphone for help, and waiting for 911 to help. What would you do? Scary for real. I drove around downtown looking for where he went, Then 911 answered I told them the story over the phone while driving around like a maniac looking for my buddy who just got stabbed and was nowhere to be found, Then dispatch came back from smoking a fat ass joint probably and asked whats up, 911 was still on the phone and the chick that was in the back wanted me to drive her somewhere else, I kicked her out on Jasper ave. ""can I change where I wanna go" fuck you bitch a dude just got stabbed you saw him bleeding and you wanna pick up some coke somewhere else, catch another cab.Fuck off. I kicked her out next to another taxi a least, she got in. I kept on looking. 911 got a hold of dispatch and no longer needed me, phew. I screamed at dispatch for being assholes and not doing their job, Its true what happened was wrong, they should be there to help all the time. Fuck them. Five more minutes went by when they told me that the cops found the driver he was with the girl at the Royal Alex hospital. I drove their as fast as I could. I was scared, this was one of the worst situations I had ever been a part of. Scared for my friend, all I could think about was all the blood, his face his neck, the hand that he waved at me. aaaa, and no one to help him, but he made it to the hospital with the culprit. When I showed up there the girl was handcuffed next to my friends running taxi, he was in emergency, what happened no one could tell me. The girl in handcuffs was like fifteen , I heard part of her story, she said there were others that did it. Fuck her I saw her eye's she was on drugs she wasn't even bothered by what happened, Fuck that she is shit, even if it was not her she knew it was coming. Little twat. I wrote down my statement for the Police, who were nonchalant. Fuck them, If you don't care about that shit then you shouldn't be a Cop. One of the cops said its our fault because we don't have a 500$ barrier in the car. Like that's my choice, some dude makes a lot of money off me every week, he owns the car not me I have no choice, it's not actually my car, it's a millionaires car. And he did not become a millionaire by protecting the drivers he did it by watching his fucking budget, so coper eat a dick. Later I was having a smoke outside and I was watching the cops park my friends taxi, it was a crime scene so it was suppose to be done right. The cop just ran it up the curb, bottomed it out and almost blew a tire. Then while he was trying to turn the computer off, a bum who just left the hospital jumped in and told the cop his address, The cop just looked at him the dude wanted to go home, he jumped in the first cab he saw. That made me laugh, the dude destroyed evidence for sure. Contamination. The cop then told him to get the fuck out of his crime scene, the drunken man finally realized that the guy in the front seat was a police officer. Holy shit. Tonight was so rough that I wanted to pray for so much rain it washes humanity away, except those that I love and the good people of course, they are all welcome in my magic boat when that happens, but until then take some swimming lessons.