May 7th, 2008
I’ve had this stooped old alcoholic once before.3 comments
April 30th, 2008
When I call out to the Emanuel E.R.’s waiting room for my fare...13 comments
April 23rd, 2008
“No, really, I believe you,” I tell the old man.17 comments
April 16th, 2008
“Vote Ron Paul? Who’s that, Sean Paul’s cousin?”15 comments
April 9th, 2008
The young woman leans forward...7 comments
April 2nd, 2008
I ask the two guys if there's going to be a problem with the payment... | [CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK] 20 comments
March 19th, 2008
It’s raining so hard the water kicked up by my tires makes a slapping sound...5 comments
March 12th, 2008
I pick up the two teenagers in inner Southeast12 comments
March 5th, 2008
I’m thankful when I turn on the ignition that I’ve been listening to blues tonight6 comments
February 27th, 2008
“Can I ask you for some advice on a personal issue?”3 comments
[March 26th, 2008]
For the first time ever, I flip the panic switch. The guy behind me is yelling and threatening violence as I whip down an empty Sunset Highway at 70 miles an hour, and while the threads have all been directed at his friend thus far, my spider sense is raising an awful ruckus at the base of my neck.
His friend isn’t helping matters. An ex-cabbie from Phoenix, he’s been the chill and sane one so far. But after being called “a stupid fucking idiot” for about the fiftieth time, he’s now also threatening violence in a low and serious tone.
I picked the two of them up (piss-drunk, if you haven’t already guessed) at a generic chain restaurant in Hillsboro. They wanted to go to Stars in Beaverton, but once we got there the first guy flew into a rage that the ex-cabbie didn’t have enough money to pay the $22 fare.
Waving around a fistful of dollars, he had me turn around and take them back to their hotel in Hillsboro, all the while insulting his friend as an idiotic spendthrift in such persistent and brutal a fashion that I suspect I’m witnessing the end of said friendship.
As I take the exit for 185th, the first guy is yelling that he’s not going to pay for more than half of the fare. The other guy’s yelling that’s fine, then he’ll just run away and his friend can deal with me and the cops. I hit the locks.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
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"So what the fuck happened?"
You got confused?
I don't format the webpage, so I can't tell you what's up with the way this is presented here. The story's continued next week.
“If”
by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man my son!
=================================
I had just wasted 8 hours of my life, learning about the Smoot-Hawley Act and how modern science would feed the planet if we ever ran out of arable land, and how to lose a fistfight (extracurricular PE, after school). There wasn't one fucking thing I wanted to learn, that anyone was teaching me. Algebra, the most useless science, was roaring up next, and it would suck beyond the power of words to describe. But life was already shit, and I was only 12.
Then my dad gave me a book of Kipling, and he specifically pointed out that poem. Yeah, it's doggerel, and even Kipling was surprised that anyone liked it.
30 seconds is nothing. Wasted time well spent.
Yep. I didn't remember it to be Kipling ... but, fuckanaigh, that's the truth.
Anyone seen Paranoid Park yet?
Personally, I like the idea of a two-parter. Better believe I'll read next week's column. The Panic Switch? Great opening. Yeah, you got my attention, NC3. Let's see the payoff.
Paranoid Park? Damn, what a book title.
Yeah they need to do something about the "story continues below" format, it is really aggravating. A lot of the stories feel like they should be longer. and my link to the index, for your posted stories keeps getting messed up too. whoever is moderating this and creating the layout seems to be doing a dis-service.
GREAT details in your story!Even though I read part 2 first! lol! (blonde:)I couldn't wait to see how your ride started! I'll be back to read more!
Be safe out there! Love your friend and cabby! w/a K!:)
The web layout is really confusing:
[TO BE CONTINUED]
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then ... then story doesn't continue below