Sketchbook Cabbie

Magdelegna sells Palm Crosses

Magdelegna sells her handmade ornate palm crosses in front of the Mission San Rafael Church on Palm Sunday.
 

How was your Day?

I decided to drive despite the fact that I was still getting over a cold. The drug combination of Comtrex (for head and sinus), Dayquil and Tussin (for the cough and sore throat) and Mucinex (an expectorant for the phlegm) had me slightly wired. The haze in my head seemed to be manifesting in my pick-ups. Is it the Buddhists who say you perceive what you feel?
My first fare that morning was the aged couple I took to the Marin Airporter at Larkspur Landing after a stay with their daughter. He’s moaning from some pain and she’s attempting to console him. “How’s your back, dear” and “You can sleep on the plane, honey.” How am I doing?, I wonder. I needed to check in on myself.  $10.
The second run of the day was a regular client. She was going to work as a nurse’s aid despite having her wisdom teeth removed the day before. “I took 2 Vicodin. I’m fine.” She was a real trooper.  $16.
Fare #3 was a dude I took from the Marin County Jail back to his Range Rover next to the club he got kicked out of in Sausalito the night before. “I wasn’t even driving when they arrested me,” he says. “They came over when I was looking for the hide-a-key under the radiator. They must of thought I was breaking into the car. They hauled my ass in when I resisted.” I have to wonder if the red wine stains and bloody elbows on his torn shirt is migrating to the back seat cushions.  $51.
The fourth run was from the Travelodge Motel to the liquor store around the corner. The sad little man I drove was slumped and moving slowly. He had to be self-medicating his pain with the booze. He and his co-dependent girlfriend each must have had 4 bottles each in the bags they carried out, clanging.  $10.
The fifth fare of the day was the wild-eyed bag woman I picked up at the Color My World Store. She couldn’t have purchased paint there since I drove her back to the motel where she lived. As we drove past the bus terminal, she tells me, “Crazy people hangaround my motel room.” She goes on talking for the rest of the ride but I tuned it out. I was done and it took all my brainpower to focus on the road. As she fumbles with her change for the fee, she tells me, “I do massage therapy…. $25 for an hour.” She’s as nutty and in pain as the rest of them today. “That’s nice,” I say back. “Have a nice day.”  $6.25

After I dropped her, I called it quits. I didn't quite make my 'nut’…given the nuts I was hauling around. I needed to clear my head.  How was your day?