Ronald Dondiego, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Blogs by Ronald Dondiego
Taxi Cab Confessions: New York City 11/25/2005 10:17:33 AM
THE DAY SHIFT There was a time I worked the day shift. It wasw horrible. Everyone in a rush, in a permanent state of angst. It was then that I realized that New York City doesn't go to work, it goes to war.
Needless to say it (the people and the traffic) grated on my frayed nervous system. I started to lose it... My blood pressure sky rocketed and in the evenings when I got home my head would throb and my eyeballs felt as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. Until at times I thought I would go mad, stark, raving mad.
But the strangest thing happened to me while working the day shift. One fine morning as I was driving up 6th Avenue, I saw a tall, young black man waving at me. I waited for him. It was obvious that he needed a cab.
He got into my cab and asked to go to 23rd street and 11th Avenue. He looked clean enough, but I could smell a trace of wine, or whatever it was that he had imbibed the night before.
I drove off with him. But after having gone a dozen blocks I looked in the rear view mirror and noticed that he had passed out.
"Sir," I said. "Are you awake?"
There was no answer. Immediately I thought to myself, shit this is trouble. Because it's extremely difficult to wake up a drunk.
Still, I had to deal with it. And so I decided to try to revive him when I got to 23rd street and 11th Avenue. But when got there I found that all my attempts were useless.
First I switched the radio to the back speakers and blasted heavy metal music. But to no avail. then I got out of the cab, went over to the rear door, opened the door and screamed, "Wake up you son of a bitch!" Also, to no avail.
Next, a fellow cab driver pulled up behind me and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I'll tell you what's wrong. I picked up this creep and he passed out in the backseat. Now I can't wake him up."
"Oh," said the cabby. "Do you want me to call 911?"
"Yeah, sure," I replied.
He was nice enough to put the call through for me. Then after about seven minutes a police car pulled up behind us. The cops got out and asked me what was going on.
"Not much. I just can't seem to wake this guy up." I pointed to my unconscious passenger.
Then one of the cops said, "Don't worry. I'll wake him up."
He shoke my opassenger and nothing happened. Then he made a fist and pressed really hard onh his chest, still nothing.
"This is unusual. The fist trick usually works."
"So why isn't it working now?" I asked lamely.
"Don't know," said the cop. "Might me on drugs."
Damn, I thought to myself, this is all I need, a drugged up person in a narcoleptic coma.
Not having recou4rse to another action, the cop called for an ambulance. The ambulance also arrived on the scene in approximately seven minutes.
This is weird, I thought. Everybody seems to be arriving here in 7 minute intervuls. I wonder why?
The EMT got out and of course tried his best but failed to bring my passenger to consciousness.
"What do you think is wrong with him?" I asked the EMT.
He was a big, burly hispanic man with a nice smile, and broad around the shoulders. His eyes glinted with puzzlement as he said, "Probably drugs. But his pulse is excellent."
Now this was indeed enigmatic, a conundrum not easily solved, even by New York's bravest and finest.
Then I got a brainstorm. I said to everyone now involved, "Let me just try one more time"
Then I touched my passenger on the shoulder and simply said, "Buddy, could you wake up?"
Lo and behold, the young man opened his eyes instantly and asked, "Am I here? At 23rd and 11th?"
"Of course, you're here," I replied, relieved.
Without any further ado he got out of the cab and thanked me. Then he started to walk towards a flea bag hotel in a straight line.
I called out to him. "Hey man, you got any money to pay for the ride?"
"Nope," he replied, looking over his shoulder. "Sorry."
Then he shrugged his shoulders and disappeared from my life forever.
As for the cops, the EMT's, and the other cabby, they were all roaring with laughter as I got into my cab cursing and rode off into the sunrise.
