All in a days work

I know you folks are tired as I am of A-Rod. I think the only reason he admitted his usage was that he was going to get caught. Now everyone thinks, not this writer, thinks how brave he is. Now the following is from a Tallahassee cab driver. This same thing has happened to me and yes around 10:00 am. As a recovering alky, I didn't care what time it was when I was drinking.Tallahassee is a small city, but big enough to have interesting cab adventures. We mostly have to deal with drunk college kids, yet since they think they are so funny, the stories are not as funny. The funniest people are the ones who do what they do, thinking it is perfectly normal.

This story, which would more likely fit in the context of a night shift, actually took place around 10:00am. And to think, I was working the dayshift to avoid the troubles of the night hours!

I get dispatched to the Lafayette Motel, one of the standard sleasebag inns of Tallahassee. The destination says Popeye's chicken, so I figure it would be a typical non-tip $4 fare and I could go on with my day.

A black guy and a white guy hop into my cab, acting like they're ready to go out to the clubs at 10:00am (but not dressed like it). They say they are visiting from Miami and ask me if I can take them to where the whores are and that they will pay me well. In Tallahassee, this is a very small area: a few city blocks, but yes, I know where the dopehole is. My logic was, these guys are already in the cab...I may as well comply to avoid further danger. I have thrown people out of my cab before, but these guys seemed pretty capable and dangerous. With that in mind, it also probably meant they could take care of their business in the dopehole quickly. I just wasn't sure how this would pan out at 10:00 in the morning.

I made a left onto Dewey St. and a right onto 4th Ave., which would be considered Main St. and Central Ave. of the Tallahassee dopehole. The black guy tells me to slow down next to the first crowd of people he sees, and says "These are my people," and gets out to deal with them. I pull into the Ghetto Mart across the street with the white guy still in the back of the cab, giving me a synopsis of his life story. The black guy finishes his business and comes back to the cab and tells me to start driving around again.

I go back down 4th Ave. and turn down a side street. He for some reason eyes a pregnant woman, and asks her if she's willing to put in some work. She agrees, with the unofficial approval of the crowd with her, and gets in the cab. This guy managed to score crack and get a whore (a pregnant whore, at that!) in a matter of 5 minutes...in Tallahassee...at 10:00 am.

As I drove them back to the Lafayette Motel, it turned out she grew up in the same neighborhood of Miami these two guys were from. The black guy emphasized throughout the ride that he would pay me well for this. I thought to myself, I'm sure you will, the question is will the money be real. I didn't care much. My top priority was to get them out of the cab without putting my life in danger. When we returned to the Lafayette Motel, he handed me twenty dollars for an eleven dollar trip. And yes, the money happened to be real.

One thing is true in Tallahassee: the dopehole never fails.




This is me again, how true, the streets mentioned above could just as well be E. Hillboro or Nebraska. Be careful out there