August 27th, 2008
“Son of a bitch, you’re running up the meter!”27 comments
August 20th, 2008
"Hey bro, remember me? You wrote that story about me in the paper."3 comments
August 13th, 2008
“It’s the Californians, man, the Californians are the worst.”15 comments
August 6th, 2008
The middle-aged man I picked up at Vendetta is in a hyperactively verbose lather ...0 comments
July 23rd, 2008
When I step into the obese old woman's apartment5 comments
July 16th, 2008
The obese old woman at Fred Meyer has a bad hip and a wheelchair...8 comments
July 9th, 2008
“...I need to take a shower first and wash all of this blood off.”6 comments
July 2nd, 2008
“So I’ve got these two women in the back of my cab who just refuse to get out...”8 comments
June 25th, 2008
“My friend’s getting divorced, and he’s really drunk,” says the bartender...8 comments
June 18th, 2008
There’s nothing like a good Friday night, and I’m referring to the money.3 comments
[May 28th, 2008]
The middle-aged guy is working on an oil ship, and trying to sell his house in Washington. He wants to tell me about his house.
He once put a sign in his yard: two interlocking hearts, “wife wanted,” and his phone number. The local paper picked it up, then the Seattle one, then the TV station. It went out on the A.P., internationally. He got letters from all over the world and dated a lot of women. But none of them wanted to live in his tiny house, only 360 square feet, but with a million-dollar view.
He sighs, and goes on to tell me about a woman he met while working in Hawaii 20 years ago. He fell in love with her, but he didn’t feel like he could treat her right and provide her with everything she deserved, because he was poor at the time.
Anyway, his ship was in Hawaii a few weeks ago, and she was still there. He met up with her, and it turns out that she’d gotten married, then divorced. The guy she’d ended up with was no good, roughed her up a little.
“And I thought, I could’ve at least done better than that,” he says.
I begin to tell him that that’s the thing, treating someone right isn’t about material stuff so much as…
“Love and respect.” He says it at the same time I do.
He understands. They talk on the phone, and the house is for sale.
Story continues below
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RECENT COMMENTS ON “The middle-aged guy is working on an oil ship...”
Great article as usual, but I noticed that I started humming the tune to "The Love Boat" about half way through (Paul Williams, Charles Fox)
Love, exciting and new
Come Aboard. We're ex...
Wake me when this ride is over. I guess I must be a little jaded being a fellow "night-cabbie". I read this article to see if you are having as wierd a time driving as I am. If this is your ...
Look, NC3, this was a fine story. You covered the bases. It was about something, and as Kesey said, if it doesn't uplift the human spirit, piss on it.
Trust your voice first. Carr...
