Driving Cab: Chapter Forty-Five

“I didn’t wanna say anything with them blacks in the cab. Man, you saved my life. This car load of blacks back there. They were gonna kill me. I should’a known better’n to get in the car,” the kid tells me.

“What, they picked you up hitching?”

“Yea, man. A whole car load’a them in a big Olds. I was just ready to give it up for the night. Go back to the pad and start out again in the morning. Been out there at University and San Pablo for near three hours. Normally, I’m pretty careful about who I get in the car with. They told me they were going to San Jose. I figure that’s halfway there. We get on the freeway. They ask if I want to stop at their apartment. Smoke a number. You know, I think what the heck,” he tells me in a rapid still half frighten voice.

We reach the light at Seventh with me nodding my head. I pull to the curb in front of a well-lit barbecue joint and tell him, “Listen. I’d run you home or something, but I’m not allowed to run with the flag down. I could get fired.”

“Oh, that’s all right, man. I understand. At least you got me the f--- out’a there. I swear to God I think they were gonna come back and kill me. You ain’t got a cigarette have you?”

“No, I quit smoking. But, I could use one myself. They held you up down dere?”

“Yea, man. I should’a known better’n to get in with them. Some bad looking black dudes. But, I was so happy to have someone stop. They seemed all right too. You know, I put my pack in the trunk. Dude that’s driving says he’s got to stop at his place for a minute. Says we can all get loaded together. They bring me over to the lot where you picked me up. I know something’s up as soon as they pull in the lot. Guy in front pulls out a gun and points it at my head. Man, I was scared shitless. I don’t know what they’re gonna do. Make me empty out all my pockets. Take my wallet, cigarettes, even my f---ing leather belt.”

“They had a gun on you?” I ask as the kid pauses for a breath.

“Yea, I’ll tell you, man, I was never so scared in my life. I didn’t know what they were gonna do. They open the back door and throw me out. I’m laying on the ground on my hands and knees. This f---ing girl up front, she’s hollering shoot him, shoot him. Shoot the honky mother f---er. Kill his white ass. I can’t believe it, man. I’m down there on my hands and knees waiting for the bullet. They take off spinning rocks and dirt all over the place. I get my ass up off the ground, and see your cab come ‘round the corner.”

“Dey had a gun pointed at you?”

“Yea, this girl, man. She’s the one who kept hollering shoot him, shoot him. I figured I’d never get out’a there alive. I’m still shaking, man. I figure they’re gonna come back for me.”

“Yea, I can believe how much you were scared. I never had a gun pulled on me. You know, I didn’t know what was going on when I saw you running for my cab. I thought maybe you and my two fares were working together or something,” I say and reach for my mike.

The kid shakes his head and laughs. “Yea, I never thought’a that. I jus’ wanted to get the f--- out’a there. You probably saved my life.”

I nod and call into the mike. “One-Five-Eight! One-Five-Eight!”

“One-Five-Eight,” the dispatcher answers.

“Yea, can you send a squad car to Seventh and Peralta? Dere’s a guy here who jus’ got held up.”

“Are you in trouble, One-Five-Eight?”

“Naw, they left five or ten minutes ago.” The dispatcher gets my exact location and tells me the police will be right there.

“I should’a known better,” the kid tells me again shaking his head.

“They get much,” I ask wishing that they had left his cigarettes.

“A couple hundred bucks, but it was all in traveler’s checks except for ten bucks. I’ll be able to get all that back. Sure hate to lose that camping equipment, though. I jus’ spent a hundred and fifty bucks for the new down bag.”

“You were on your way camping?”

“Yea, hitching to Santa Cruz. Spend a long weekend there. What a way to start,” the kid says shaking his head.

We sit in the dark waiting for the cops, while the kid goes over his story again. Christ, I tell myself, and I thought I had some close calls. I wonder why they didn’t shoot him.

It’s at least five minutes before the black and white pulls in behind us with its lights off. Glad I wasn’t getting held up, I tell myself as officers approach both doors. The kid gets out and thanks me again for saving his life. I wave good-bye, and turn to the cop at my window. He checks out the back seat and takes out a little brown book.

“Where you pick him up?” he asks.

I explain where and how I picked up the college kid, while the officer jots down my description in his notebook.

“F---ing kid should’a known better,” he tells me and nods good-bye.

“Hey, wait a second,” I call after him. “You guys will be able to drop him off downtown or some place? I mean, I couldn’t run him out’a here in my cab.”

“We’ll take care of him,” the officer tells me and walks back to the driver’s side of he black and white.

What de hell, I tell myself as I check traffic and take one more look at the black and white. He’s probably a rich kid anyhow. His mother ‘ll buy him a new sleeping bag. I mean, hitching wid traveler’s checks. What would Kerouac think’a dat?

Still, Goddamn, to actually have a gun pointed in your face. To hear some bad ass black girl shouting kill the honky mother. To be alone in a vacant lot with a whole carload of bad ass Oakland blacks, I tell myself and double check the door locks.

And, my time is gonna come. Goddamn it. The longer I stay the more likely I am to get held up. Will I be as scared as dat guy was. Will I be as lucky?

Well, it ain’t gonna be tonight, I tell myself as I race for the garage. All the way home, I wonder when my time is coming. It’s not until I’m safely though the Caldacut Tunnel that I begin to breath a little easier. What if I do get held up? It’s jus’ another experience. One dat will show you an aspect of life dat you’ve only come close to.

What choice do I have anyhow? If I’da been down at de S.P. a minute or two sooner, dem guys might’a still been dere. Dey might’a decided to knock me off at de same time. A couple seconds later and dey might’a come back and shoot the kid. Maybe I did save his life.

So, the choices you make affect everyone else. Everyone you come into contact wid. The people I pick up, or pass up, it affects every one of dere lives to some extent. Maybe every trip I had tonight was jus’ to put me at de S.P. lot when I got dere. If I had taken the Greyhound girl to de bus stop, de kid might’a got shot.

When I reach my house in Walnut Creek, I’m surprise to see the kitchen light still on. Anne still up? I ask myself.

Soon as I step inside, she greets me with the good news. Mr. Barnes from Oak Grove called. “The English teacher you subbed for all the time last year moved up to a high school position. Mr. Barnes wants you to come in at ten tomorrow morning,” Anne says and throws her arms around me.

‘Yes!” I say and give Anne a loving squeeze.” I taught dat class more’n he did. If I don’t get dis job, I never will get one.”

“I know you’re gonna get the job. Didn’t Mr. Barnes tell you that he wants you to be a full time sub at his school?” Anne asks and returns my hug.

“Yea, he said I was up for the next opening. I think you’re right. Let’s celebrate. Let’s open some wine,” I tell Anne.

“O.K. but just one glass. You’ll have to get up early tomorrow.”

“Yea, you’re right. Dis is it! Dis is it!”