Monday, May 2, 2011

while I kept driving us forward

Wow what an incredible evening, I don't believe what happened to me today. Well let's start at the beginning, I was dispatched to LakeView in the south end of town, an new community I don't really know. I don't use the GPS bullshit, I just adapt to the fact that the city is growing. I'm getting older these days, I can't see the same in the night, I mean, I don't look at it anymore like I used to. I can't fight every war that sets itself in front of me, now I choose my battles. Tonight was no exception, so many assholes. My first fare was an old women from the new Zellers up there in LakeView, she had the nicest shoes and pedicured feet, but she was old, lovely attitude, till she slipped me a slime tip, I dealt with it. She was a citizen. Then I waited listening to an Oasis song. My next fare was what you'd expect on a busy Friday evening, a group of four dirty, thick in rig and strapped and splatted in pig. They were finishing their beer next a truck with a flat bed back. It was huge and so were they. There was four of them, they smashed themselves into the back, I could smell the beer, "Where to?" I asked, they said "WHyte ave, the Fucky Buddha." They were all healthy men, happy, laughing in the back. I smiled thinking that I was a part of their group. "Can you guy's smell the spring in the air?" I asked looking back at them through my rear view, I could see two sets of eyes. Both were hazy happy, lucky, gone. I watched them as they laughed, we were waiting for traffic, I watched as one of them stared toward the intersection, his face was red and the heat of the day mixed with the alcohol was wearing on him. He was going to be sick. "This guy's gonna get sick" I announced, we were still at the red light. The moment I said it, he threw up,  on his friends. They all jumped out of the taxi, it was 7:30 and that guy almost signed me out for the night with a car reeking of his residue, but he missed everything but his three boys, I drove off. Seriously he puked in the car, and only got his friend, well that's what I thought. My next fare found out that one of the riggers whipped a nugget of vomit on the exterior handle, I saw my fare realize what it was, I saw her smell her hand after she touched it. Ahhh totally repulsive, fuck! Well what are you suppose to do, give up and die? I pretended I didn't know what she was talking about when she complained. The interior was pristine, her friend told her to settled down, and she did after I let her smoke. They took me into the North end where things got interesting. I was flagged on 118ave and 82st, three young girls, not a day over twenty, naive, and new to Edmonton. When they got in I could smell the booze, but they were beautiful, all three. "I had no idea my aunts apartment was in such a bad neighborhood" one of them said as soon as they were all clumsily and drunkenly settled.  I tolerated them because of their youth, and by their looks, I figured they had cash. "West end" yelled the one in the middle, her eyes perceived me as I connected to her, I could see she was excited, so I floored it, pushed west fast. The radio was turned up high. They were in the back and I was watching the remnants of the sun set, it was twilight. The sound of the music disappeared, got muffled by the sound of the girls in the back, they were in their own world laughing. It made me happy. Wind raced into the car as I opened the window, my scenes were overwhelmed. I perused the short shot of light peeking through the horizon, saturated in a short cut to that heavenly instant. Things were good right then, as I felt one of their hands touch my ear, intimately. I was shocked, as I looked back at the three of them staring at myself in their reflection. "Shit" I said smiling and turned up the tunes. One of them jumped over the front seat, we got started talking philosophy

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