Thursday, December 11, 2008

I'm reading HACK

Nice kid. So far she kind of reminds me of a couple of drivers I've known from the past, and no not one of The Wood Brothers, nor Gwench, nor The Wombat, nor Wicked Wanda. Actually I think she most reminds me of Tiberious, Roy Boy's boy, and in an odd way Lucky Pierre now that I think of him.

This is not to say that she comes off as being excessively masculine. She isn't.

I used to tease Tiberious by saying to him, "Who the HELL, wants a good boy anyway?"

Tiberious would always reply, "My parents were blessed with one." Which was true, he was the ultimate good kid, good manners, good student, nice guy. He's a lot like his dad. Now what ever possessed Roy to let his son drive a cab at night? You can get killed or maimed, it's not something I'd recommend to a friend. Perhaps I'm overly sensitive, I only ever suggested to one friend that driving a cab was a cool job. My best friend got murdered by a passenger in April of '92, less than a year later. Tiberious, has a good job these days, and a nice family, in addition to being a good boy, he's been lucky in life.

I wonder what ever happened to Lucky. He used to come down to the office and sit around the dispatch office, any evening he wasn't working. Of all the drivers I've ever met who loved everything taxicab, Lucky loved it the most. If memory serves, he got washed out when he lost his driver's license. The way that happened was he got a speeding ticket which isn't that big a deal, then he got a silly ticket which I don't recall the specifics of, then finally he got a ticket on his moped for riding it on a lettered county highway, poof 90 day suspension. It was Lucky who told me that The Hog turned to him one night and said, "R. C.'s a real cream puffer." The highest praise of driving ability I've ever gotten.

The Wood Brothers were also called The Woods of the 90's. Husband and wife, I think they drove 191 & 192 five nights a week from 10:00 pm. to 6:00 am. when I started. I'm pretty sure he's dead, I don't recall what became of her. I wonder if she kept his glass eye as a keepsake.

The Wombat and Qwench will get their own posts.

2 comments:

Gusgamashuq Abunoori said...

Way to go, covering and well representing the good cabbies in your life. We should all be each other's biographers. Melissa Plaut was the one who inspired me to start my own taxi blog. Bless her heart. Keep churning them out boss. Thank you.

Real cab driver said...

Thanks for the kind words. I've found myself remembering too many dark memories, and I asked a passenger one night, "Who'd want to read a dark book full of bad memories, bad experiences, and danger?"

He said everybody would. But I don't think so. So I'm trying real hard to remember the good times and the good people, and some of the really silly stuff. I think I will tell you El Dougaie's favorite R.C. story next.