lady

I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes, I honked again. Because this was going to be my last ride of my shift, I thought about just driving away.

Instead, I put the car in park and walked up to the front 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 90s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a hat with a veil pinned on it as if she had stepped 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 asked.

I took the suitcase to the cab and 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 to be treated.”

“Oh, you're such a good boy,” she said.

When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and 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 rear-view mirror. Her eyes glistened.

“I don't have any family left,” she continued in a soft voice, “The doctor says I don't have very long.”

I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

I asked, “What route would you like me to take?”

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 once had 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.

At the first hint of sun 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.

“Nothing.”

“You have to make a living,” she said.

“There are other passengers.” Almost without thinking, I bent and kissed her.

She held onto me tightly. “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy. Thank you.”

I squeezed her hand and then walked into the dim morning light.

Behind me, a door shut.

It was the sound of the closing of a life...

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?
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What would my lady have said?

​Anonymous