Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. It was a
cowboy's life, a life for someone who wanted no boss. What
I didn't realize was that it was also a ministry.
Because I drove the night shift, my cab became a moving
confessional. Passengers climbed in, sat behind me in
total anonymity, and told me about their lives. I
encountered people whose lives amazed me, ennobled me,
made me laugh and weep. But none touched me more
than a woman I picked up late one August night.
I
was responding to a call from a small brick fourplex in a
quiet part of town. I assumed I was being sent to pick up
some partiers, or someone who had just had a fight with a
lover, or a worker heading to an early shift at some
factory for the industrial part of town.
When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except
for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these
circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice,
wait a minute, then drive away. But I had seen too many
impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only
means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of
danger, I always went to the door.
This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I
reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked.
"Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice. I could
hear something being dragged across the floor. After a
long pause, the door opened.
A
small woman in her 80s stood before me. She was wearing a
print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it,
like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a
small nylon suitcase.
The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for
years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There
were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on
the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled
with photos and glassware.
"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took
the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the
woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the
curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's
nothing", I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers
the way I would want my mother treated".
"Oh, you're such a good boy", she said.
When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, then
asked, "Could you drive through downtown?"
"It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.
"Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my
way to a hospice".
I
looked in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were glistening.
"I
don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor
says I don't have very long."
I
quietly reached over and shut off the meter. "What route
would you like me to take?" I asked.
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She
showed me the building where she had once worked as an
elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where
she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds.
She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that
had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a
girl.
Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular
building or corner and would sit staring into the
darkness, saying nothing.
As
the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she
suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now."
We
drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a
low building, like a small convalescent home, with a
driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came
out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were
solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must
have been expecting her.
I
opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door.
The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.
"How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her
purse.
"You have to make a living," she answered.
"There are other passengers," I responded.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She
held onto me tightly. "You gave an old woman a little
moment of joy," she said. "Thank you."
I
squeezed her hand, then walked into the dim morning light.
Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of
a life.
I
didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove
aimlessly, lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I
could hardly talk.
What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who
was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to
take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?
On
a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything
more important in my life. We're conditioned to think
that our lives revolve around great moments. But great
moments often catch us unaware- -beautifully wrapped in
what others may consider a small one.
PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU
SAID, ...BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM
FEEL.
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