Читать книгу Confessions of a New York Taxi Driver - Eugene Salomon - Страница 5

A man jumped into my cab one night in April, 2008, at the corner of 5^th Avenue and 57^th Street. He was a forty-something businessman type, an Inquisitario (a passenger who asks a lot of questions) as it turned out, en route to Grand Central Station.

I could see he was a bit disoriented as he settled into the back seat, but this is not unusual in New York. Certain things must be confronted by a passenger as he enters a yellow cab in this city. Things like: how much will this ride cost? Do I have enough cash or will I have to use a credit card? Hey, what in hell is the source of that odor? And, since English is usually a cabbie’s second language, does the driver actually understand a word I’m saying?

So it took him a few moments before it dawned on him. Leaning forward in his seat, he studied me carefully.

‘Say,’ he blurted out, ‘you’re an… American!’

‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘but you know I charge extra for that.’

He ignored the joke.

‘You’re the first American driver I’ve had in… three years!’

‘Better play the lottery tonight.’

‘Really!’

I know how monkeys feel when people are staring at them in the zoo. There are indeed very few American taxi drivers in New York City. My passenger’s eyes moved from the back of my head to my hack license.

‘Eugene Salomon,’ he said, not realizing in his excitement that I already knew my own name.

‘That’s me.’

‘Tell me something, Mr Salomon… how long have you been driving a cab?’

‘You don’t have a heart condition or anything, do you?’

‘No.’

‘Well, then, I’ll tell you… I have been driving a cab since… (drum roll, please)… 1977.’

There was a short pause as this information was processed, and then the expected response: ‘Oh my God!’ This is said in the same combination of horror and amazement people have when they see someone being hit by a car. I take it in my stride.

‘Wow,’ my passenger said, ‘you must have some stories!’

‘Buddy,’ I say in a well-rehearsed reply, ‘I have more stories than the Empire State Building…’