Wednesday, March 7, 2012

JACK RABBITS

.....JACK RABBITS

Passengers that jump out and run without paying. Usually young males.  Imagin' that.

The call was for the "Pig".  Piggly Wiggly supermarket that is.  A young African-American male.  Had a dew rag on.  The kind with double flaps in the rear.  An obvious queen.  Said she wanted cab # 21.  He wasn't available so do you want to ride with me, yes or no?

She said she wanted to go to the Citadel Mall in W. Ashley, then back downtown to America St. in the hood.  A good run, maybe fifteen dollars.

She wasn't a talker.  She wanted to go to Dillard's in the lingerie dept.  Go figger.

We pull up in front.  I asked how long?  She sez, she's just gonna' pick up her check.
I looked at the door.  Cab driving had taught me, queen's are flakes, you can't trust what they say (but then who can you trust?)

I thought once she's around that corner and outta' sight I'll never see her or my money again, or wait twenty minutes then go inside to find her shopping.

I said, I'll go with you. So I did. She didn't go directly to the office for her check.  She wanders around then stops to look at something.  Then sez, are you going to follow me all over the store.  I reply, now that you said that, yea....!!

She stops to look at something else.  I ask, what are you doing?  Shopping she sez.  Do you have money to pay for the cab fare, yes or no?
No.

Got lucky, just then a cop walks in.  He was there to investigate a call of shots fired. I call him over and explain the situation to him.  She goes into motor mouth about the wrong cab.  We have to follow him till he and his partner investigates the shots fired.

Were told to sit and wait.  The queen goes into a store and calls the cab company.  The cops return.  She doesn't have the money.

A call is made to her sister who sez she was suppose to be there and pay the fare.  News to me.  When was this going to happen? If you were supposed to be here, what are you doing in N.Charleston? How long am I expected to wait?  Why wasn't I told about this right up front instead of a lie about a check?

When I got on the phone with the sister she was hostile to me so I hung up.  The cop said she was polite to him and that I was the rude one.  Of course she was polite to the cop.

Anyway he got back on the phone and it was arraigned for me to take her to N. Charleston to collect.

In N. Charleston I'm told to wait downstairs.  Sister comes down and makes some nasty remark then throws a twenty on the ground.  I pick it up and as I'm walking away say, "Na-nah na-nah, I got the money".

Two months before I had taken a woman to a beauty salon.  There was two dollars and seventy five cents on the meter.  The beautician came out and started hasseling me, saying I took the long way.

I threw fifty cents on the ground.  Guess who the beautician was?