Fairies

Or is it faeries? I guess it depends on which spelling you like. Some people doubt their existence, not me.

In his opening monologue, Travis said he'd take anybody anywhere, including whores, faeries (pronounced fahhh-reeeeeeees), and minorities. The faeries Travis had in mind were probably silly little nellies. The person who wrote the dialog was probably overly influenced by the insulting value of calling someone a faerie, when it's a reference to sexual preference. I suppose some faeries are gay, but being a faerie comes first, sexual preference is another matter.

I had a true faerie in my cab yesterday. I know one when I see one. They're pretty rare, and like seeing a gold finch in the spring time, I notice.

Years ago, there was this little Mexican guy named John who was a regular. His ride was always The Shamrock to The New Bar, both gay bars. John would probably strike most people as a classic faerie, but in my mind he was just an obnoxious little fag, not a faerie. He was small, 5'4" perhaps, 25-35 years old, spoke unaccented English, and was fairly dark brown with black hair. He always wore this Saturday Night Fever type costume, for him it was a white cowboy costume. He always had to sit in the front seat. Sitting in the front seat isn't usually a big deal, but he ALWAYS put his hand on my thigh, and I don't like being touched by passengers in general, so that was really unwelcome. At first, I'd twist his arm as far as I figured I could, short of breaking it. He never said anything, I guess he had high pain tolerance, but if I'd broken his arm I'd have been in a lot of trouble, so there was a limit to how far I could twist it. Kate over at Union Cab had her arm in a cast for a year over a radial fracture she got from a passenger, and he got a few years in jail for doing it. Finally, I started refusing to let this bozo in the front seat, and he'd refuse to get in the cab at all. Then he'd call and ask for another cab, and we'd send him one. Kind of makes you want to scream in frustration. This went on until his cousin Bobby was in the cab one night, and I told Bobby about it. Bobby was gay too, and he said he was terribly embarrassed. After that, John behaved. John and Bobby, I wonder what ever became of them. One or both of them probably ended up with some mama sita(s), and have kids. I'm pretty realistic, and pretty cynical, it's the way of the world.

I've only ever seen one faerie who wasn't considered developmentally challenged or mentally ill. He was (is?) an engineering graduate student from India. When he danced through the basement of General Engineering in the wee hours of the morning, he had the same graceful fluttery quality of a luna moth. I'm sure he'd simply say he was a happy guy, and things were going his way, at the moment. Nah.............. He has magic. Someday I'll pick up some cute little electronic marvel (like todays cell phones), it will be his magic that made it possible, and he'll still be dancing down the hall of his high tech frim in the wee hours of the morning.

The faerie I had yesterday is what they call a special needs passenger. He is attended 24 hours a day by somebody, and I'm sure they have some kind of label for him like autism. I wish I could get a video of him that I could submit to casting agents, and writers. Of course the people he has attending him, we call them beast keepers, won't ever recognise that magic. I don't know if I could stand having him around for more than an hour or so, he's a pretty high energy guy, but I want him in my cab a few more times. I want to watch that magic coming out of him enough times to be able to put it down on paper.